


Love Drunk

by captainkippen



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Best Friends, Drinking, F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Miscommunication, The Guys Are Alive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26953468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainkippen/pseuds/captainkippen
Summary: Thirty-two missed calls. Fifty-eight texts waiting. Over one hundred various social media notifications. A deep sense of foreboding took over. Julie swallowed. Slowly, she lifted the phone back to her ear."Flynn… what happened last night?"After a night out in Vegas, Julie and Luke wake up to find themselves married. Hijinks ensue.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 347
Kudos: 1366





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr at [captainkippen](https://captainkippen.tumblr.com). See the playlist for this fic [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/34sMfWyjxBmq7Le3AG9KwL?si=XPOcKHMrRHWf9ailnHTp_A).

**Julie**

There was nothing that made Julie feel more alive than the roar of a crowd singing her own lyrics back to her. She basked in the sound under the heat of the stage lights, heart pounding with wild happiness as thousands of faces gazed up at the band in awe. Tonight had been one of the most energetic shows they’d ever played – the atmosphere was one of total euphoria. Every song had turned the venue into one vast foot-stomping party. Luke had already led the audience through three raucous rounds of happy birthday with his guitar, Alex and Reggie screaming along into their microphones as loud as they could while Julie hid her face, laughing.

She couldn’t believe this was her life. On this day three years ago, still in her freshman year of college, she had been standing on a wobbling makeshift stage at a karaoke bar screaming Whitney Houston into a microphone with Flynn for her nineteenth. There had been no way to predict that it would be the night her life would change forever. If the band hadn’t stumbled into that bar at just the right moment, then tonight would be nothing but a distant fantasy.

Sometimes she still wasn’t so sure that it _was_ real.

Even after three encores she wasn’t ready to leave, and everyone else seemed to share the same reluctant sentiment, but over in the wings the stage manager was gesturing desperately at them to wrap it up.

“Thank you, Vegas! We are Julie and the Phantoms!” she yelled into the mic, taking one final bow with her hands clasped tight in Luke and Alex’s as they drank in the cacophony of screams which answered them.

“That was amazing!” Reggie crowed as he bounded into the dressing room. “We totally rocked their faces off.”

“We keep playing like that and we’ll be filling stadiums in no time,” Luke grinned, pulling off his shirt and using it to wipe the sweat from his face. 

Julie looked away, grabbing her own change of clothes and heading for the bathroom, studiously ignoring Alex’s knowing smirk. The adrenaline of the night would have them all up for hours yet, especially since they’d made plans to go out for drinks after the show anyway, and she was determined not to show up at the hotel in complete disarray. When she remerged, a small cart of snacks had been wheeled out for them accompanied by a small gaggle of admirers. She smiled to herself as she watched the guys tuck in. It was another on the list of things they were only just starting to get used to – catered dressing rooms and teams of people dedicated to making sure all their needs were met. They had come a long way since their days of hanging out in a van after shows.

With a great sigh, Julie collapsed down on the couch. Luke moved over automatically, slotting her under his arm. He’d put more deodorant on, though this did little to help and his skin was still damp. She wrinkled her nose but made no effort to shove him away.

“You need a shower,” she complained.

“Hypocrite,” he teased through a mouthful of food.

Her dad hadn’t been too happy when she dropped out of college to pursue a life of “total rock ‘n roll” (Luke’s words), but it hadn’t taken long for his disappointment to wane after the band’s first single started playing on the radio. She couldn’t entirely blame him. When she’d first left there had been a tiny doubt-filled part of her that worried she’d end up with nothing but regrets to show for her effort. It was a blessing that she’d never given in to that. Even when he stunk of stage-light sweat, the solid weight of Luke at her side made sure she knew she’d made the right decision. Wherever the Phantoms were was where she was meant to be too. 

“Jeez, you guys are so married sometimes,” Reggie said, watching in amusement as Julie smacked Luke lightly on the arm and stole a Reese’s cup from his plate (it wasn’t really stealing if they were honest about it, because Luke didn’t like peanut butter and only ever picked them up so she didn't have to). 

“Shut up,” Luke made a face. “We are not.” 

“Uh-huh,” Alex said, disbelievingly. “So on a completely unrelated note… who has your hotel key and passport, dude?”

Julie rolled her eyes. 

“Do you wanna be in charge of them, Alex? ‘Cause you can be,” she said.

Luke had lost his passport twice and managed to lock himself out of hotel rooms about a dozen times at this point. They had no idea how he kept managing it – he could always remember where Julie’s reading glasses were, but anything that went into his pockets was as good as gone. They would usually ask their tour manager to hold onto them, but the guy with them on this tour – Willie – was just as bad as Luke when it came to anything outside of the schedule. Really, it was just safer for everyone if she put them in her purse. She had Reggie’s too, but that was just a precaution. 

Alex evidently agreed because he changed the topic quickly.

“So where are we going tonight?” 

“The strip?”

"Obviously, but which bars?"

"Oh, can we go to that tiki place Alex always talks about?" Julie asked eagerly. "I wanna try the cocktails."

“We could probably get into a few clubs too, just sayin'…” Reggie suggested. 

They knew enough people on the circuit by now to make a few calls and pull some strings to get them on lists. 

“Remember we’ve gotta fly back tomorrow,” Alex reminded him. “Let’s not go too crazy.”

“It’s Julie’s twenty-first,” Luke said. “We gotta go a little crazy, ‘Lex. No more sneaking her drinks under the table.”

“Okay, that’s true. But if I wake up on the beach again I will kill you.”

“Whoa,” Julie laughed. “Nobody’s waking up on any beaches. It's just a few drinks, maybe some dancing–”

Alex’s face lit up.

“–and then back to the hotel to catch a few zees before checking out. Really, guys, we don’t have to go too wild just because of me.”

Luke looked a little disappointed by this and opened his mouth to argue, but he was interrupted by the door bursting open. Much to Julie's bashful delight, a cluster of roadies came bustling through carrying a vast purple cake covered in dripping wax candles.

“Oh my God, you guys!” she squealed. "You shouldn't have."

 _“Happy birthday to you,”_ the room sang. _“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to Julie, happy birthday to you!”_

“Happy birthday, boss,” Luke murmured in her ear with a grin.

Casting one more elated look at him, she closed her eyes and blew. It was insane; tonight she had been sung to by upwards of fifteen thousand people. Her face was on billboards. She got to spend all her time doing the thing she loved the most and going on adventures to new places with the three people she considered her absolute _soulmates_. Luke ran his pinkie down the edge of her hand and she tangled their fingers together. If only it would never end. 

“Did you make a wish?” Alex asked.

Three bandmates she adored. The friendship bracelet Flynn had made her before they set off on tour. Daily voicemails waiting on her phone from Carlos and her dad. A grand piano of her very own. All these things she could never had imagined, and now she had them.

She caught Luke’s eye again, unable to stop her smile from growing.

“I don’t need to make a wish,” she said. “I’ve already got everything I could ever want.”

She was on top of the world.

Death would be a sweet mercy – that was Julie’s first thought as she was dragged kicking and screaming into consciousness. Spiteful bright sunlight was spilling into the room from the open windows and somewhere nearby there was ceaseless trilling sound drilling into her skull like a screwdriver. Was this hell? Was she in hell right now?

The trilling stopped. She moaned in relief. From beside her, an answering moan sounded. 

Wait. What?

An arm tightened around her waist and her eyes flew open. Regret hit her immediately and, wincing, she bit back a curse as the light invaded her vision. Nausea rolled through her stomach in waves. God, what had they been drinking last night? The inside of her mouth tasted like a garbage can. This must’ve been what people meant when they said they felt like ‘death warmed over’. Inch by inch she turned, wishing the distant sounds of the street below didn’t feel like the world’s worst alarm clock. 

_Oh thank God,_ she thought in relief as she finally registered the owner of the arm. It was just Luke. They were sprawled out together on top of the sheets, clothes wrinkled from sleep, both stinking to high heaven of booze and sweat. He still had both his shoes on. 

The trilling sounded again, shattering the brief moment of blissful repose, and beside her Luke made an unintelligible noise of disgust, retracting his arm to pull a pillow over his head. 

“Turn it off,” he mumbled, voice muffled by the mattress.

Julie sat up, squinting as she searched for the source of the ringing. The room was in chaos. She had a vague memory of everybody crowding in to get ready before they went out, which might explain that. Cups and cans littered every surface. The sheets of the bed had slid halfway to the floor and there was a mysterious substance splattering the wall by the curtains which could be cake or it could be something much worse. She wasn’t sure she wanted to find out. They were going to have to have a serious cleaning effort before they checked out – they couldn’t leave all this for the maids to deal with. The ringing stopped again. She took a second to pause in her movements and bury her face in her hands, hoping to quell her unsettled stomach.

A glint of silver caught her eye. She paused.

Luke’s favourite ring. Why was she wearing Luke’s favourite ring? It shone on her left hand, massive and out of place amongst her usual jewellery. What had _happened_ last night? They’d gone to the strip, hopped across a few bars, bumped into a few fans…

Before she could even begin piecing her patchwork of hazy memories together, the trilling sounded up again. She dove towards the sound, rummaging through the sheets, desperate to stop it. Emerging victorious from her struggle she clutched her phone in hand.

**_Flynn calling…_ **

It clicked off again. That was no good. Flynn was tenacious, she would just call again in two minutes if Julie didn’t respond. Sliding off the bed with a huff, she padded to the bathroom and closed the door behind her with a quiet click. It was cool and soothing in there – the toilet comfortingly close – so she settled on the floor and rested her head against the cold tiles before hitting ‘Call Back’. 

“Flynn–”

_“GOOD MORNING, MRS PATTERSON!”_

Julie cringed, shushing Flynn immediately.

“Ooh, rough night?” Flynn asked, sounding much too delighted by Julie’s suffering. “I’m not surprised – you guys were a mess.”

“How do you even know?” she groaned. “You weren’t there.”

“Uh, well I kinda was? Reggie Facetimed me, remember?”

“Honestly, no.”

There was a pause.

“Jules… what _do_ you remember from last night?”

“Uh…”

Alex’s bright red face when Willie kissed him on the cheek. Tequila toasted to her birthday. Reggie trying to woo a girl he met outside a casino. Shots. Pulling Luke back in from where he’d half climbed out of an open taxi-cab window. More shots. 

Her stomach roiled in rebellion at the memory.

As she was wracking her brain for an answer, her phone pinged. She pulled it away from her ear to look at the notifications.

> **Recommended for you • now**
> 
> Music • Trending 
> 
> _#JukeWedding_

> **@JATPFanOfficial mentioned you in a tweet • 5m ago**
> 
> CONGRATULATIONS @PhantomLuke and @JulieMolina !!!! SO HAPPY…

> **INSTAGRAM • 8h ago**
> 
> _@PhantomReggie_ tagged you in a photo.

> **@MTV mentioned you in a tweet • 8h ago**
> 
> It’s true! 😱 Our favourite Hollywood sweethearts @JulieMolina and… 

> **@FantomForLife • 7h ago**
> 
> wait... is this a joke or did @JulieMolina and @PhantomLuke actually just...

Thirty-two missed calls. Fifty-eight texts waiting. Over one hundred various social media notifications. A deep sense of foreboding took over. Julie swallowed. Slowly, she lifted the phone back to her ear.

“Flynn… what happened last night?” 

**Luke**

Luke had done a lot of things in his life that he regretted, but from the way his head was pounding that morning then the night before would certainly be a regret for the ages. He had just started to drift off again, free of the incessant ringing that had first woken him, when the bathroom door slammed open and the pillow covering his head was ripped away. 

“What the f–”

“Get up!”

He opened his eyes to find Julie glaring down at him just before she thumped him with the pillow, and rolled over to avoid the hit only to find himself plunging to the floor in a groaning heap.

“Why do you hate me?” he asked her, rubbing his eyes. “Did we miss our flight?”

“Do you remember what we did last night?” she demanded, ignoring his complaints.

Was that a trick question?

“We went out,” he sat, pulling himself to his feet and immediately wishing that he hadn’t as he teetered to the side. “And maybe we went a bit too hard… I don’t know, it’s too early for this. Why are we awake? Do we have any food? I need grease.”

Now he was a little more alert, he started to actually take in their surroundings. He frowned. This wasn’t his room – had he and Julie fallen asleep writing songs again? Oh man, he couldn’t wait to see what their drunk brains had come up with. If they were even just _tired_ when they wrote their lyrics came out in a nonsense form. They'd once written a song about pineapples at three AM, which had seemed genius at the time, and the next morning Reggie told them they could never make fun of his country songs again when he read it.

“Focus!” she said, thumping him with the pillow again. He jumped back, affronted. 

“We have a _problem_ ,” she stressed and thrust her phone at him. 

He took it gingerly, feeling far too unsteady for this level of intensity so early in the morning. The screen was open to an MTV article. He frowned.

“Wha–”

“Just read it,” she sighed, folding her arms.

> **_JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS MEMBERS GET HITCHED IN VEGAS_ **
> 
> by Caleb Covington. 
> 
> _‘Pop-rock group Julie And The Phantoms first shook the world two years ago with their chart-topping debut record_ ‘Bright’ _, amassing millions of streams in the first twenty-four hours and a fanbase which help shoot them into stardom, but it seems they’re far from done with their surprises. Last night while celebrating frontwoman Julie Molina’s twenty-first birthday, it was announced through a livestream on the band’s Instagram account that she and Luke Patterson, ex-frontman of Sunset Curve and now lead guitarist for the Phantoms, were getting married then and there–’_

Nope. No way. Luke’s insides went numb. He stared at the screen – the words didn’t change. 

_‘Getting married there and then.’_

An image flashed across his mind of a chapel floor covered in rose petals. They had been drunk. _So_ drunk. He could remember, vaguely, wandering down the street somewhere between the third and fourth bar of the night with Julie under his arm as they staggered left and right giggling together. 

_“I don’t think I can walk anymore,”_ she’d laughed, leaning against him. 

It had been the only solution that came to mind at the time, the obvious one. He had scooped her up in his arms and she’d shrieked, clutching to him and cackling as they took off down the sidewalk leaving Reggie and Alex whooping behind them. It had felt right, holding her like that, having the time of their lives. Then Alex had made a quip about carrying Julie bridal-style… 

Oh, no.

He pushed the jumble of thoughts away and forced himself to look at her. Julie’s face was lined with panic in a way he'd never seen before. She was usually pretty good about rolling with it when things went wrong... it was then that he realised she was wearing his ring, his favourite ring, the one his mom had bought him. It was a little bit too big for her finger, but it had stayed on through the night. He swallowed. 

Married. They were married. He, Luke Patterson, was married to Julie Molina. _Married._ And he couldn’t even remember it! How could he not remember something like that?

“There’s a video going around,” Julie explained. “Apparently Reggie streamed it-–”

Reggie was going to die a very painful death when Luke next saw him.

“–God, Luke, _everybody_ knows–”

“Okay, okay, okay… we’ll fix it,” he said, pacing across the floor. “It’s not a big deal–”

“Not a big deal?”

Alarm bells rang in his head. Luke took an automatic step back.

“Luke... we got _MARRIED!”_ she exploded, and he winced from the volume of it. “I mean, how does that even happen? What were we _thinking?!_ ‘Not a big deal’, are you serious? Think about it, oh my God. Oh my _God._ My dad is gonna be so disappointed. Victoria’s going to kill me! Your mom– _”_

She was working her way towards a panic attack, hands bunched in her hair and eyes wide. They had to make this right. 

“Okay!” he said again, reaching out to take her by the shoulders. “Calm down, just a sec, okay? Let’s think about this… we can fix this, I mean it. We’ve just gotta think.”

“This isn’t like when a show gets cancelled or we miss a flight!” she argued. “This is _marriage_. It’s legally binding. And the whole world knows about it! We're not even dating!”

Julie’s hair was a mess. She had crease lines down her face from where she’d slept too hard and too long against bunched up sheets. There was a ring on her fingers that wasn’t hers, a bracelet on her wrist he'd bought her two years ago, and now he looked he realised she was wearing his shirt too, the same one she always wore to bed, the one she’d stolen from him at the beginning of the tour. She drowned in it. She was angry, and concerned, and totally _beautiful._ Drunk Luke had known _exactly_ what he was doing. Sober Luke was screwed.

Oh man, he was never drinking again.

“Okay, this is bad,” he agreed. “But, hey, look at it this way; it could be way worse… you could be married to Reggie.”

Julie sat on the edge of the bed and groaned. It was going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Luke**

By the time Luke finally got home to the boys’ apartment the sun was going down and he was pretty sure he’d never felt so exhausted in his life. The first thing he did was dump his duffle bag on the ground and head into the living room, flopping down face-first on the couch. Alex and Reggie were waiting for him, already three loads of laundry in and with Chinese food on the way. They’d even emptied his suitcase for him – guilt made them unusually helpful.

“I am so dead,” he groaned into the cushions. “ _So_ dead.”

“The meeting went well, then?” Alex asked, putting a steaming cup down on the coffee table for him.

“They want us to _stay married_.”

“What?!” Reggie squeaked.

“You’re not getting it annulled?!”

Luke sat up, grabbed the cup and chugged it down, wincing as the coffee burned his tongue. He couldn’t think straight with so much going on.

“I don’t know yet,” he said.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

It had been the morning from hell. Just as Luke had managed to calm Julie down about the whole situation, Alex and Reggie had bounded in from the room next door bearing a bundle of _‘Congratulations Newlyweds!’_ balloons. They’d thought it was hilarious. Julie had been ready to strangle them to death. 

Luke was mostly just grateful she hadn’t succeeded. Even if they did deserve it, he didn’t want to go searching for a new drummer _and_ a bassist.

“Whoa, whoa, Jules, calm down,” Alex had said as he crouched behind Luke for protection. “It’ll be fine. As soon as we’re back in LA I’m sure you can just go down to the courthouse or whatever and get it annulled. 

“People get drunk-married in Vegas all the time!” Reggie agreed. “It’s no biggie. And I’m pretty sure everyone will forget about it in a few days.”

But they had both been wrong. In their defence, no-one had anticipated the absolute frenzy the whole affair would cause. When they’d touched down at LAX it was to find the arrivals gate overflowing with reporters and their cameramen at the ready. It had taken twice as long as it usually did to get out of the airport, the boys forming a solid line between Julie and the crowds and a group of security officers in a tight ring around them. All they’d wanted was to go straight home and get the smell of the tour off them, but apparently that wasn’t an option. Instead, both Julie and Luke had been whisked away to their label’s headquarters for a meeting with the PR team, leaving Alex and Reggie to head back on their own.

Luke hated those meetings, the boring ones where everyone was wearing suits and talking about the band like they were dolls you could buy on the shelf of any toy store instead of music

Andi – their manager – seemed to be caught between disapproval and amusement, but their two PR officers were not so torn. Exasperation rolled off them in waves. Luke could never remember their names, so he privately referred to them as Suit One and Suit Two. It wasn’t that he didn’t like them (well… he didn’t, but that was beside the point), it was just that they were always trying to tell the band what to do and how to look. He knew it was their job, but their ideas rarely aligned with the band’s and it made him much less inclined to listen. Once they’d tried to get all the guys to wear suits like they were in the Beatles or something. Totally not cool.

“So, this situation,” Suit One said, as soon as everyone had sat down. “It could be a problem.”

“A major problem,” added Suit Two.

“You see,” Suit One continued. “Your fans are invested in the two of you. People have been expecting you to get together for a while–”

“We’re not actually–” Julie started, but Andi shook her head.

“That’s the problem,” she explained. “It doesn’t matter if you’re actually together or not. People have taken this as a confirmation that you are.”

“So?” Luke asked. “It’s not our fault they jumped to conclusions.”

“Well, you did get married,” Andi pointed out.

“That’s not the point,” Luke said, feeling the heat rising under his collar. He wished people would stop pointing that out. He’d been there, sort of, he knew what they’d done. “The point is it’s not a big deal as everyone’s making it out to be. All we gotta do is tell the truth, then we can get divorced or whatever and move on with our lives. It’s no big deal.”

He glanced at Julie. She was tapping her knee nervously under the table. Without thinking about it he took her hand and stilled it with a gentle squeeze. When she squeezed back he felt the tension drain from him at once.

“Luke’s right,” Julie agreed. “I mean, hey, the fans might even think it’s funny.”

The Suits looked at one another, then back at Luke. Suit One leaned towards him, clasping her hands in what she obviously thought came off as a professional manner but looked to him like she was plotting an evil scheme.

“See here’s the thing,” she said. “We’re not so sure telling everybody the truth is a good idea.”

So much for the tension draining. Julie’s hand tightened in his and dread began to pool in his stomach. It felt as though the Jaws theme had just sounded up… _duunnn dunnn… duuuunnnn duun…_

“You see, the thing is,” she continued. “With so many of your fanbase being younger, we have to factor in with what their parents think. And, well, I think we can all agree accidentally getting drunk-married in Vegas isn’t exactly the leading example people want for their kids.”

“We’re a rock band–” Luke started. 

The rock scene was filled with people who had set worse examples than getting married. 

“And after all the trouble with Trevor,” Suit One spoke over him with a pointed look. “It would not be in the band’s best interests to have such a scandal right now.”

Luke’s mouth snapped shut. Fuck, they were right. When Sunset Curve had split, right at the peak of their fame, their rhythm guitarist Bobby – now known as _Trevor_ for some godforsaken reason – had left them on less than desirable terms. It was headlined in the press as “Creative Differences”, which had made Luke scoff at the time. Sure it was accurate, if “Creative Differences” meant Bobby had gone behind his back and stolen half his newly-written songs, selling them to a producer and splitting to start his solo career while trash-talking the rest of them for the paparazzi. It seemed that, in his growing resentment, Bobby had made every effort he could to destroy the reputation of Sunset Curve. His willingness to spill nasty and often untrue stories to the tabloids had made him a lot of connections. The Suits were right. If he found out about this, he would take every opportunity to twist it into something bad. Luke didn’t care if he started a whole mill of terrible rumours about _him_ , but he couldn’t let that happen to Julie.

“Fortunately, we think we’ve come up with a solution that will suit everybody,” Suit Two chimed in, looking pleased with himself as he pulled out a large binder. It thumped down on the table and they all stared at it. 

Julie raised her eyebrows. 

“You two could stay married,” he continued. “Tell everyone you’ve been thinking about getting married for a while – last night just felt right – you just couldn’t _bear_ to keep your relationship a secret from the world any longer. Then, of course, you have the chance to work up some positive press with all the romance, and in a few months when everything has blown over and the press has moved along you can get a quiet divorce, if anyone asks we can say it just didn’t work out, and you can go on with your lives as usual. We think that will avoid any nastiness, at least.”

They sat in stunned silence. Julie’s hand had a death grip on his.

“Now, obviously, you guys are under no obligation to agree,” Andi said, giving them both a kind smile. “We want whatever you feel is best for you. But if this is what you choose to do then we need to act quickly. The press will be expecting the label and the band to make a statement.”

This was insane. Totally and completely insane. _Marriage? Romance?_ Pretending to be in a _relationship?_

“When you say work up some positive press…?” Luke began.

“Oh you know,” Suit Two waved a casual hand. “Being seen on dates and such. Some nice dinners out, a few social media posts, maybe a couple of TV interviews. Simple really.”

Simple.

“Can we think about it?” Julie asked, weakly.

“Of course. We can reconvene tomorrow and come up with a plan of action.”

And just like that, they were dismissed.

“So did you guys talk about it at all after?” Alex asked once Luke had finished explaining the situation. “I mean, what does Julie think?”

Luke shrugged. 

“We’re gonna hang out later, figure something out once we’ve both unpacked and stuff.”

“What about you? What do you think?”

“I think my mom’s gonna kill me no matter what we decide,” Luke said.

His phone had been switched off for a solid twelve hours. He suspected he was long overdue for a small shouting match by now. As a teenager, he and his mom had never seen eye to eye on his career in music. Their relationship had improved when she’d realised he wasn’t budging and he’d figured out she was just worried, but they still had hiccups sometimes. She loved Julie. If she thought he’d been keeping a relationship with her a secret, she was probably feeling a little hurt by it. Worse yet, if she knew the truth she might actually kill him herself for acting irresponsibly and dragging a nice girl like Julie down with him.

“It wouldn’t be so bad,” Reggie mused. “It’s _Julie_. She’s awesome.”

Alex nodded.

“Reggie’s right dude, if I was gonna marry a girl it would totally be Julie. You could do a lot worse than your best friend. Plus, y’know… it’s not like you guys would have to pretend _that_ much.”

“What are you talking about?” Luke asked.

The guys looked at one another. 

“I mean, you guys are all over each other all the time anyway. You can’t blame people for thinking it’s real. Do you know how many pictures there are of you guys cuddling?”

“I cuddle everybody.”

“True,” Reggie agreed. “But not like you do with Julie.”

**Julie**

There was no place like home. The apartment Julie shared with Flynn was her favourite place in the world – besides the music studio that she and the guys would practice in. It was light and airy, with potted plants dotted all over their little balcony outside and fairy lights strung up in the living room. Unfortunately, the usual comforting effect that the apartment had on her was nonexistent as she trudged through the door. Anxiety had been twisting at her insides since she’d woken up.

“Flynn?!” she called, dumping her jacket and heading for her room. “Are you here?”

“I’m in the bathroom!” Flynn’s distant voice answered.

Julie was just pulling out a fresh pair of pyjamas when she appeared in her doorway with a sly grin on her face.

“Welcome home, Mrs Patterson.”

“Don’t call me that,” Julie sighed.

“Oh, keeping your last name, huh? Cool, cool, very independent-woman of you. I like it.”

She scowled. Flynn ignored this, moving over to sprawl across Julie’s bed.

“Your dad called by the way,” she went on. “I told him you were in the bath and you’d call him back later.”

“When was that?”

“About three hours ago.”

“That’s a pretty long bath.”

Flynn shrugged. “I didn’t know how long you’d be gone.”

“Did he ask anything?”

“Uh, no. No, I don’t think so.”

“Flynn…”

“Okay,” she admitted. “He tried to grill me about you and Luke. I didn’t say anything though, I swear. I told him I was just as surprised as him. I think he’s kind of upset you didn’t invite him.”

“ _Invite him?!_ ” Julie threw her hands up in exasperation. “Flynn, we didn’t _invite_ anyone! It wasn’t even planned, it was just one big drunk mistake.”

“You invited the guys! And me! Thank God for FaceTime. I would’ve been pissed too if I missed it.”

The urge to kill Reggie bubbled up once more. He was lucky he was so loveable or she might have already done it.

“Look, clearly a part of you wanted to do it,” Flynn continued, that sly grin returning. “Drunk you obviously thought marrying Luke was a good idea. Drunk You is great. Drunk You is smart. Be more like Drunk You.”

“I did _not_ marry Luke on purpose!”

“Uh-huh, sure honey. So what are you gonna do about it anyway?”

Julie took a deep breath and sat down beside Flynn. The gravity of the situation kept hitting her over and over in waves. She just wanted everything to stop for a moment.

“The PR team think we should stay married.”

“Are you serious?”

Julie gave a miserable nod.

“They think it’s a bad idea to tell everyone it was an accident, something about our reputation and Trevor Wilson–”

“That guy,” Flynn muttered darkly. 

“Yeah. That guy. So Luke’s gonna come by in a little while and we’re gonna figure out what to do. It’s all so crazy, Flynn. I don’t know what we were thinking.”

There were worse people to be fake-but-real married to than your best friend, but something about it still bothered her. Flynn sighed, pulling her in for a small hug. Even in the face of her teasing, Julie was glad she had her friend. Without Flynn, she’d be lost.

“Well, until then…” Flynn got up, disappearing for a second and coming back holding up a paper bag. “You’re gonna love me. I went to the store. We’ve got ice cream, face masks and three new shades of that nail polish you like. I figured you might need a night of pampering after the day you’ve had.”

**Luke**

The girls’ apartment was only three blocks away from his, but Luke had an unusually hard time getting into the building that night. A gaggle of reporters were huddled outside the stairwell and he only just managed to duck outside of sight without being spotted. He’d been forced to wait for ten minutes before a couple of neighbours he recognised came along. He ducked behind them, grateful that they made no comment on this – Julie’s neighbours were all pretty respectful – and slipped into the building disguised by their grocery bags.

He hesitated when he reached their door. Should he knock? He had a key – none of them usually knocked. It felt weird like he’d already intruded on Julie’s life enough as it was this week without barging into her apartment. After a moment or two, he decided he was being dumb and unlocked the door.

“Luke!”

Flynn barrelled towards him, knocking the wind right from his lungs with the force of her hug.

“Hey Flynn,” he chuckled, squeezing her tight for a second and trying to avoid the avocado-looking mess smeared all over her face. “How’s it going?”

“Oh, same old,” she smiled, stepping back. “Work, sleep, as much junk food as I can eat. My life’s been way more boring than yours this week. How’s the honeymoon going?”

“Flynn!” Julie admonished, flicking a piece of popcorn at her from where she was spread out on the couch. 

Flynn laughed and danced out of the way, heading not back to the couch but for her bedroom. 

“I’ll leave the two of you alone,” she winked at him. “I know how you couples need your alone time.”

“You’re the worst!” Julie called after her.

“You love me!”

With Flynn gone, silence fell. Luke felt wrongfooted and off. It didn’t help that Julie was just sitting there in her fluffy pyjamas and ridiculous giant slippers, a face mask on and completely adorable. On a normal night, he would make himself right at home. They’d sprawl out on the couch with a bundle of blankets and some snacks, put on Netflix, then spend the rest of the night watching terrible cheesy movies until they fell asleep. This was not a normal night and the idea of it didn’t feel so easy now. It felt like cheating... as though they would be playing right into their PR team’s hands.

“You gonna sit down?” Julie asked.

“Nah, I figured I’d just stand here where it’s safe,” he joked. “Y’know, in case you try to kill me again.”

She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hide her smile, and he wandered over to join her. Out of habit, she threw her legs over his lap immediately, but he couldn’t avoid noticing the flicker of uncertainty on her face after she did so. Great. They were both overthinking things. So much for it not being a big deal.

“So…”

“So…”

“Game plan?” she asked, straight to the point.

He had spent all afternoon thinking about it, in between the moments when he’d been trying to piece together his hazy memories of the night before. It was a miracle they hadn’t attracted more attention, really, the state they’d been in.

“We could do what Alex said,” Luke said. “Just get an annulment and be done with it. But…”

“Bobby?”

“Bobby.”

“The Suits are right. If he found out…”

“What’s the worst he could do?”

Luke shrugged. There were a lot of false stories about him floating around that he wished didn’t exist.

“He told the tabloids I have anger issues and a drug problem. It almost lost us our contract before we met you. He threatened to out Alex. I don’t like the idea of that kinda stuff happening again, not with you involved. He’ll use anything, Julie. He could tell people I got you pregnant, that it was a shotgun wedding. Or make up some story about us being alcoholics. He could spin it any way he wanted. He _will_ if he finds out.”

“I can handle a few stupid rumours,” Julie said.

“I know you can.”

But he couldn’t. Ever since they’d met, Luke had always been the one responsible when the two of them got into trouble. This time it was different, though. It wasn’t exactly sneaking into a locked hotel pool at night and getting caught by security. He couldn’t be sure that getting married _had_ been his idea, but he doubted it was Julie’s. And it was him that Bobby hated, not her. Before he could say any of this, she spoke again.

“If my dad found out we got married as a joke he’d be so mad.”

“Your dad loves you. He wouldn’t hold it against you.”

“He’d still be disappointed,” she said. “And Victoria might actually kill me.”

Julie’s aunt _was_ terrifying. He pulled his eyes away from where she was worrying at her lip and reached out absent-mindedly to take her hand. She ran a thumb across his knuckles and he leaned back with a deep breath.

“My mom’ll be mad too. She worries about us enough as it is.”

“So maybe,” Julie hesitated. “Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad… to pretend, I mean. Just for a little while.”

He turned his head towards her, watching her carefully. There was a determined look on her face, the kind she wore when battling stage-fright right before they played a show, and his stomach flipped.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“What do we tell people?” he asked.

Julie thought for a moment. 

“We’ve been together for a while now,” she said. “It just happened one night on our last tour, we were up writing songs and you kissed me.”

“Why am I the one to kiss you?” he grinned.

“Please,” she huffed, smiling down at their hands. “You know you’d be the one to make the first move.”

Maybe. He didn’t think so, though. Julie was always braver than she gave herself credit for. When she’d decided to do something then she _did_ it. No second-guessing. No looking back.

“We could say getting married started off as an inside joke,” he suggested. “You know, with Reggie always saying we’re like a married couple? And then one day we realised we could actually do it… if we say that then it’s not a total lie. I mean, it was a joke.”

Julie nodded. He could practically hear the cogs turning in her brain as she formulated a game-plan. Alex and Reggie were right, there were way worse people he could have married. Getting through this would be a piece of cake with her by his side.

“Okay, if we’re doing this then we need to lay out some ground rules,” Julie decided. “Boundaries. I don’t think we should tell anyone outside of who already knows.

“What about our parents?”

“You were right,” Julie said. “What you said earlier about your mom already worrying enough… it’s true for all of them. It’s better to just play it safe. It won’t be hard to convince them – I’m pretty sure my dad thought we were dating anyway.”

“You gonna tell Carlos?”

She shook her head. 

“It’s not fair to put that on him.”

“Okay, cool. What else?”

“Nothing weird on social media?” she suggested, uncertainly. “We should just act natural.”

“Good idea,” he said. “Reggie posts enough pictures of all of us anyway. We don’t need to go crazy. Also, I think we need to make sure this doesn’t mess with the band. Music first, as usual.”

“Music first,” she agreed. 

Okay, simple.

“Wanna watch Netflix?” he asked after a beat. 

Julie grinned and reached for the remote. Simple.


	3. Chapter 3

**Official PR statement regarding the recent marriage between Julie Molina and Luke Patterson:**

> _‘Splash Records are delighted to confirm the news that Julie Molina and Luke Patterson of Julie and the Phantoms were married this past weekend in Vegas. Our team wishes them many happy returns and we ask that everybody please respect the couple’s privacy at this time.’_

**@julieandthephantoms via Instagram:**

> _Dear all,_
> 
> _There has been a lot of speculation over the past two days about the relationship between the two of us, so we thought we’d clarify a few things. As many of you are aware, we have been in a band together for three years now. Sharing the stage with one another has brought us closer together in ways we could never have imagined. Every day has been an adventure packed with new experiences and surprises, and one of those surprises just happened to be the two of us falling in love. We are very blessed to announce that as of August 12th, thanks to the great state of Nevada, we are officially a married couple. We thank you for all the kind messages we’ve received over the past few days, your support means the world to us, and we can’t wait to see what surprises the next three years have in store._
> 
> _Lots of love,_
> 
> _Luke & Julie _

**Luke**

“I’ve always thought you and Julie were a nice match.”

Emily Patterson was a kind woman. Luke had always known that about his mom, but he had never appreciated it as much as he did right now. He’d arrived on the doorstep to the house buzzing with anticipation, certain that an argument was brewing, but she had simply opened the door with a warm smile and pulled him into a hug. No interrogation followed, no uncomfortable accusations or questions, just acceptance. The sense of relief was immense, but it was followed quickly by a storm of guilt.

“You’re not mad?” he asked, leaning on the countertop as he watched her fuss with the coffee pot.

“Oh, honey,” she sighed. “It’s been a long time since you told me everything that’s going on in your life. I’m a little sad you never mentioned that you were dating, but it’s not like it was hard to notice. I’m not blind you know – you and Julie have been attached at the hip since you met.”

“We didn’t plan it,” he said, desperate to let her know he hadn’t deliberately chosen to exclude her from his life. “The wedding I mean.”

“I know,” she smiled, pouring him a cup and sliding it towards him. “Victoria called me when she saw the news – she would’ve known if you’d been planning it. You’ve never been much of a planner anyway.”

He took the cup, grateful to have something to do with his hands. Her tone was teasing, sincere, and he didn’t know what to make of it. She was right, obviously, planning had never been his strong suit. If it was, he would never have run away from home and wrecked their relationship when he was eighteen. It wouldn’t feel so fragile in his hands these days if he ever thought things through. 

“You should bring her to dinner when you both have a free night,” she continued. “You know your father would love to see her.”

Julie and his parents got along like a house on fire. Sometimes he marvelled at the easy way she spoke with them, joked with them, telling them about their plans for the band and the online courses she’d been taking in her spare time. He’d never known how to tell them about his life. They fussed over her as they did him – she had been a part of the family long before now. 

“Yeah,” he smiled, ducking his head. “Yeah, she’d like that.”

**Julie**

“I think I might throw up,” Julie said.

Beside her, clutching a bowl of pudding, Flynn rolled her eyes in amusement. They stood outside the Molina’s house staring at the door, Julie’s key in hand, and had been there for five minutes now. She had been like this all day, wracked with nerves and going over possible conversations in her head. All tour she had been excited to come home and see her family, but now the dinner loomed like an ominous cloud in the sky.

“If you do, can you direct it the other way?” Flynn asked. “This outfit is too cute for vomit stains.”

Julie had never struggled much with talking to her dad, but right now she couldn’t think of anything worse. They’d had exactly one conversation – a stilted phone call in which she’d made excuses about unpacking and promises to come over to dinner to explain everything – over the phone the day before. It felt wrong to keep secrets from him. After all, he just wanted to support her. Never had he judged her, and the only time he had ever been truly reserved about her decisions was when the band had first started and he was worried she was throwing away her life for three idiots taking advantage of her. Obviously, that had changed when he met the guys. He trusted her judgement, trusted her to make good decisions, and now she was faking a marriage. She felt as though he would take one look at her and _know_. Fortunately, it was her brother Carlos who met them in the hall first.

“Julie!” he barrelled towards her, catching her off guard with a tight hug. 

“Hey,” she laughed, patting him on the back. “God, did you get taller somehow?”

Carlos had stopped growing a while back, but every time he came back from college to visit Julie was sure he’d put on another two inches. He dwarfed her in size. 

“You might’ve got shorter,” he laughed, pulling back. 

For a moment, Julie’s nerves abated. Carlos had spoken to her over text already – he had not seemed surprised by what had happened, and his only thoughts on the matter seemed to be “Yeah, Luke is cool.” 

The ease disappeared quickly though when he dad appeared in the doorway. The room went quiet. He had his arms folded and his stern face on – it wasn’t one she saw that often and it wasn’t one she enjoyed.

“Hey, dad,” she said awkwardly. “It’s good to be home?”

There was a pause. Carlos jumped in, doing his brotherly best to cause a distraction before their dad could open his mouth.

“So the tour went well, huh?” he asked.

Their dad huffed out a quiet laugh but shook his head. It was no good. They both knew it. Carlos shot her an apologetic look and Julie shrugged. She’d known she would have to face the music anyway.

“Nice try, Carlos. Julie, can I talk to you for a moment? _Alone._ ”

Flynn shot her a pitying looking, but departed with Carlos to the kitchen. Julie looked at her father, suddenly wishing she’d brought Luke with her so she didn’t have to deal with this alone.

“So what’s up?” she asked lightly, hoping maybe she could play it off until later.

He looked at her, unimpressed, and her shoulders drooped.

“Wanna explain to me why you didn’t tell me you and Luke were dating?”

“I’m sorry,” she sighed, looking down at her feet. “We weren’t trying to hide it, but we kind of wanted to keep it on the down-low. You know? We just didn’t want it all over Twitter and to have everyone up in our business. We were going to tell you after the tour but then…”

“Julie, you got _married._ ” 

She winced.

“It just happened. We didn’t plan it… we were kind of drunk. I know I should’ve called you, but I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

There was a moment of silence and she peered up at him. He was watching her intently, but his arms loosened and he sighed, then gestured her forward and pulled her into a hug.

“Are you guys staying married?” he asked. “Or was it all a joke?”

Guilt churned in her gut. 

“We’re staying married. I really am sorry I didn’t call.”

“Oh, Mija,” he sighed again, letting her go. “I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. The two of you were always heading in that direction anyway, I just wished I’d known about it first. It would’ve been nice to walk you down the aisle.”

She would’ve liked that. There were a lot of things they’d missed out on in Vegas. Even if it wasn’t a real wedding, she would’ve liked to have had her father-daughter dance with him. Or to have worn a real dress. Maybe even to have said vows she could remember…

“Look… I know you’re an adult now, but you’ll always be my little girl. I just want you to be safe, okay? You don’t have to hide these things from me.”

“I know, dad.”

He smiled at her, sweet and forgiving, and she hoped he couldn’t see the shame on her face as she smiled back. God, he would be so upset if he ever found out the truth. 

“Are we okay?” she asked.

He clapped her on the shoulder, nodding.

“We’re okay. Oh, and just a warning… your tía is on her way. And she’s really excited about you and Luke.”

“Wait, what–”

Just in time for him to grin and disappear into the kitchen, the front door banged open and Victoria came bustling through. 

“There she is!” she greeted in delight, peppering Julie’s face with ecstatic kisses. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! I _told_ your dad the two of you would end up together. Oh my God–”

Julie sighed, too relieved that she didn’t have to put up with another interrogation from her aunt to do anything but be herded into the kitchen.

Victoria’s enthusiasm continued all through dinner. Julie answered question after question about the wedding, ignoring Flynn’s knowing looks as she struggled to invent random details about a night she couldn’t fully remember, and even though she was disapproving of the fact it had taken them drunken antics to get to the altar apparently her aunt had been taking bets on when they’d admit they were in love for years now.

“The two of you aren’t subtle, you know,” she said as she helped clear the plates. “I’ve been telling your dad, haven’t I Ray? Since the day you two first met it was obvious. I’ve never seen two people more in love.”

Flynn choked on her drink. Julie shot her a warning look.

“It’s true,” Ray said, resignedly. “She has been saying that.”

“Are you guys gonna move in together now?” Carlos asked, curiously. “‘Cause if you are, do you think Alex and Reggie will let me move into Luke’s old room?”

“What makes you think Luke would move into my place?” Julie asked, amused.

“Because he’s always there anyway.”

That wasn’t exactly untrue, but Julie shook her head with a quiet laugh. 

“We haven’t made any plans yet,” she said. “We’ve only been home a few days. Plus, maybe Flynn doesn’t want Luke as a roommate.”

Regret hit her the second she said it. Flynn raised her eyebrows, a devilish smile playing on her lips, and she leaned forward casually to say,

“I wouldn’t mind if Luke moved in,” she said. “Carlos is right. A married couple should live together.”

“Married,” her dad said, wistfully. “I can’t believe how grown-up you are.

“I do wish we could’ve been there though,” Victoria jumped in, not for the first time. “I’m surprised at you, Mija. I’d have thought you’d want a _real_ wedding. You know, not in some Vegas chapel.”

“I already told you, tía. It wasn’t planned.”

Victoria waved this off, there was a worrying look in her eye. The kind that was usually followed by plotting. Carlos had obviously noticed it too because he busied himself with taking the plates from her and running away to the sink.

“You know what we should do?” she said. “We should throw you a wedding party. Or a vow ceremony! Some people do that, you know, when they’ve had smaller ceremonies already. That way we can invite everyone, we can celebrate properly as a family, and you could wear your mom’s dress!”

Julie blinked, blindsided. 

“That’s not a bad idea,” her dad said. “If you want to, Mija.”

They looked at her. She could feel the colour rising in her cheeks. A party? Where everyone would be there watching? And she and Luke would exchange _vows_? It was a terrible idea. A horrible one. She couldn't even read the statement they'd put out on Instagram without blushing. It gave her butterflies every time, though that had not stopped her from opening it time and time again to remind herself that yes, it really was true, she was married to Luke. Her life ha gone insane.

She couldn’t think of a good reason to say no without giving herself away. Across the table, she shot a pleading look at Flynn.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Flynn grinned, tipping her glass towards her. “I call Maid Of Honour!"

_Traitor._

“I’ll ask Luke,” she sighed, giving in. God help them both. What the hell had she gotten herself into? 

“Does this mean I have to wear a suit?” Carlos complained.

**Luke**

P.R meetings were getting exhausting. As they hurried down the steps of the label’s building, Luke wished he and Julie were allowed to just video conference instead. Avoiding the paparazzi on the front steps was a full work out all by itself. 

“A game plan?” he complained to Julie when they’d dodged the last camera. “Why do we need a game plan? It’s so stupid. People already think we’re together. All we gotta do is hold hands and stuff until they get bored.”

They had just spent two hours being given a long list of _‘Dos And Don'ts For Married Life’_. One of the points had actually been ‘Don’t get caught dating someone else!’ as if they were both complete idiots. Why would either of them try dating when they were publicly married? Besides, it wouldn’t feel right seeing someone else anyway. Their marriage might be a sham, but it was the principle of the thing. 

“It’s just the label trying to cover us,” Julie sighed. “They don’t want us to mess up –”

She was cut off by a group of security guards turning the corner. When Luke saw who was at the centre of the cluster, he scowled immediately.

Splash Records shared a building with two other labels. This would be fine, if not for the fact that one of those labels was _Dark Romance Ltd.,_ home of Bobby Wilson and his ever-smug expression. If there was anything worse than running into paparazzi when coming out of a meeting, it was running into Bobby instead. 

He smiled when he saw them, although the expression on his face was anything but pleasant. It screamed ‘fake!’ and Luke found himself half-shielding Julie with his body in an automatic response.

“Luke,” Bobby greeted, swaggering towards them with his posse. “And Julie. I heard the news. Congrats, by the way.”

“Bobby,” they both said. 

“Thanks,’ Julie added awkwardly. 

“You know it’s crazy,” Bobby continued. “I had no idea you guys were even dating. No one did, actually.”

Luke’s eyes narrowed. There was an unsettling tension in the air, the kind he’d felt a lot in the last few weeks of Sunset Curve’s existence, and it put him on edge immediately. If Bobby knew something, they were in trouble. 

“We like to keep things private,” Julie chimed in, sliding her hand into Luke’s and squeezing it tight. It was a comfort, but also a warning. She knew he was biting his tongue. Bobby’s presence had the tendency to bring out the worst in him.

“Right, right,” Bobby nodded. “Don’t want everyone knowing your business. I get it. You gotta be careful in the spotlight, never know when someone might let something slip.”

They watched him walk away, hands still tightly entwined, and when he was out of earshot Julie turned to him with a worried look. 

“Do you think he knows the truth?” she asked.

Luke shook his head. “There’s no way.”

Her face relaxed, and after a moment they continued walking with Julie moving on to chat about their plans for the next studio recording sessions. Usually, Luke would be listening intently to this to offer his own ideas, but as they moved he could not quite shake the unsettled feeling that Bobby had left with him. He hoped his reassurance was right. There was no way Bobby could know, could he?

**Julie**

Despite her insistence that it wasn’t necessary and several arguments with Flynn that had resorted in a food fight in their kitchen, just a week after their return to Hollywood the gang Julie found herself hauling boxes of Luke’s possessions up several flights of stairs with the guys, wishing she’d decided to fake marry somebody who didn’t own so many heavy things.

“How do you have so much stuff, dude?” Reggie huffed, hauling in one of the last few boxes. He’d stripped down to his undershirt, red-faced, only to be followed through the door by an equally sweaty Luke carrying two duffle bags. 

“I told you we should’ve hired movers,” Alex complained, bringing up the rear. “What’s the point in being rich if you have to move your own stuff?”

It had taken them the better part of an hour to get most of Luke’s things up the stairs – the elevator was down for the count. It might have been an easier job if people didn’t keep blocking their way to the van. The building’s security team had been forced to come outside and stand guard (though, actually, ‘forced’ was the wrong word, they were pretty happy to help Julie out when she needed them). There would no doubt be countless pictures of the band worn out and dripping all over Twitter by now. 

“I don’t know,” Flynn said brightly from where she was perched on the counter, sipping from her drinking and watching them all work with a cheeky smile on her face. “I’m having fun. It’s not a bad view from here.”

Luke flicked his sweaty t-shirt at her. She cackled, snatching it out of the air with practised ease. 

“I’m gonna sell this on eBay,” she joked. “I’ll be richer than you all.”

In the end, it had been agreed; Luke would move into Flynn and Julie’s apartment for the next few months, just to stop the awkward questions from the press and prevent unpleasant rumours before they could start. Both he and Julie had insisted Flynn didn’t have to leave, but her decision to switch over to Alex and Reggie’s apartment for a ‘few weeks’ was a steadfast one. She kept winking at Julie and mouthing ‘honeymoon’ at her. 

When they had finally brought up every last box, they all collapsed onto the couches with beers in hand and matching sighs of relief. Julie looked around at them – five adults stumbling through their own insane lives together. It was crazy. How had they ended up here?

“To Luke and Julie,” Alex beamed, raising his bottle. “And Vegas.”

She kicked at him laughing, but they all raised their drinks in a toast. It was a relaxed kind of evening, all of them in their sweats, doing nothing and talking crap for a few hours. After a little while, Reggie dug out Luke’s battered record player from the mountain of boxes and the collection of vinyls from under the coffee table, fiddling with them until finally, the crashing sounds of _End of the Century_ were blaring through the apartment. Luke grinned from where he and Julie were sprawled together.

“You know, we never got to have our first dance,” he said, sipping his beer. 

“That’s because we were too drunk to stand, let alone dance,” Julie laughed. 

“You could have it now,” Alex suggested. “I mean, there’s no better song, really.”

 _Baby, I Love You._ Julie rolled her eyes, it was almost sickeningly cliche, but instead of laughing it off like she’d thought he would, Luke slid from his seat with a chuckle and offered her his hand.

Reggie and Flynn whooped. There was no need for it really. In a room full of people who knew the truth, they had no need to pretend, but she found herself wondering if she would have accepted anyway even without the whole Vegas debacle being a factor. The mood was light, the beer giving everyone a pleasant buzz, and she was with the people she loved most in the world. Luke’s hand was too inviting. With a roll of her eyes, Julie took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

“I can’t live without you,” Luke crooned, mischievous joy written all over his face as she looped her arms around his neck. “I love everything about you, I can’t help if I feel this way…”

Julie threw her head back and laughed, delighted as he waltzed her across the floor. Behind them, Alex and Flynn were choreographing their own strange dance routine as Reggie giggled on the couch. Warm air and the glow of the streetlights spilt in through the wide windows, bathing them all in ethereal orange light, the sounds of the spinning record and distance traffic laying the soundtrack to their night. It was the moments like this, where Julie was so deliriously happy, that she thought back to the days before they met. How had she ever survived without these fools in her life? They were her whole world – there was no one she’d rather be spending her life with. Her soulmates.

_“...oh, I’m so glad I found you. I want my arms around you. I love to hear you call my name…”_

The next morning, when Julie woke to find the viral video of Luke twirling her around the living room captioned _‘Newlywed’s First Dance’_ , she smiled to herself. Beside her, Luke stirred slightly before burrowing further beneath the sheets. Reggie could live, she decided as she hit retweet. Just this once.


	4. Chapter 4

**Luke**

Waking up next to Julie never got old. They had decided to share the bed – half of Flynn’s things were still in her bedroom and it felt intrusive for Luke to crash in there. He could’ve crashed on the couch, but what would be the point? They’d shared beds before (usually by accident after passing out during late-night songwriting sessions, but that was beside the point), they could handle a few weeks sleeping side-by-side.

Not that he’d admit it to anyone else, but it was Luke’s favourite part of the whole charade. 

Julie was not a peaceful sleeper. Where Luke slept like a log, she tossed and turned through her dreams, she snored loud enough that he’d witnessed her waking herself up several times, and her hair went everywhere. He adored her for it. In the mornings the room would be flooded by golden light spilling in through the window, illuminating the lines of her face. If Luke was lucky enough to wake up first he got to lay there looking at the way it lit the edges of her silhouette like a halo. 

Today was one of those mornings. He woke up warm and comfortable. At some point during the night, in a move which was not unusual, Julie had migrated over to his side of the bed and ended up half sprawled on top of him. Her head lay on his chest, one arm was thrown across his waist, and their legs were tangled together in a way that would definitely cause problems when he eventually attempted to get up. 

Allowing himself to bask in it, he lay there for a few more moments letting his finger run up and down Julie’s back in gentle lines. Her breathing was even and steady, skin warm through the soft cotton of her fading pyjama shirt, and he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. 

“Julie,” he sang quietly into her ear. “Julie. It’s time to get up. We’ve got songs to write.

She stirred with a groan of reluctance, burying her face further into his chest and balling her fist up in his shirt. 

“I’ll make coffee if you get up,” he whispered.

There was a pause, and then she sighed. The call of coffee was too strong. 

“I love you,” she mumbled in appreciation, turning over into the pillow. “Five more minutes?”

“Okay,” he agreed. “But if you’re not up in five I’m gonna get my guitar and play you my new riffs with the amp at ten.”

He slid out of the bed, laughing as her hand reached out blindly searching the mattress to thump him and missed, and headed out into the kitchen. 

The apartment was serene this early. He switched the radio on, letting the staticky pop station dance through the air quietly, and found himself humming along as he pulled out two mugs and fiddled with the coffee machine. 

True to her word, Julie stumbled out of the bedroom with a loud yawn five minutes later. He smiled as she pressed herself up against his back, sliding her arms around him, uttering a string of tired unintelligible words in between his shoulder blades. 

“Sorry, I don’t speak sleepyhead,” he chuckled. “What did you say?”

Julie let out a long sigh and detached herself from him, moving around to grab the steaming mug of coffee waiting for her. He couldn’t hold back his smile as she peered sleepily up at him. Her hair was all over the place, defying gravity, and she clutched the cup like a lifeline. He could write entire ballads about the way Julie was in the morning.

“I said,” she repeated, voice hoarse from disuse. “We should probably figure out that game plan. Y’know, before we get too distracted with writing.”

Oh, right. The game plan. The label had given them homework that was essentially ‘go on dates and be convincing’, but they needed to work out the safest way to do it and Julie felt that warranted a more detailed plan than ‘don’t tell our families and don’t get caught’. They’d been putting it off; existing in their own little bubble. He deflated a little – sometimes when they woke up together it was easy to forget they wouldn’t be doing it for the rest of their lives. Every time he told himself he was okay with that, that he wasn’t disappointed at all, a tiny bit of accusatory shame flared up in the back of his mind that sounded an awful lot like the word ‘liar’. 

“So what’s the plan, boss?” he asked as they settled themselves at the island.

Julie had retrieved one of the many notebooks they’d left scattered about the apartment and flipped it open to the blank page. Across the top she scrawled in big block letters  **‘JULIE AND LUKE’S GUIDE TO FAKING A MARRIAGE’** , turning it for him to see with a grin.

He laughed and stole the pen, adding a  **‘...FOR DUMMIES’** to the end of the title and doodling two stick figures kissing under a set of cartoon wedding bells. 

“Date ideas,” Julie said, taking the pen back again. “That’s what we need. They said we have to be visible right? So… where can we go that the paparazzi will see us?”

It was strange. Sitting there and brainstorming ideas of how to get caught by the press when they’d spent the last year and a half desperately dodging them as unwanted cameras and microphones invaded every aspect of their private lives was not something Luke would ever have imagined them doing. In the end, they decided on several places to go, and Julie began on a bullet point list of things that would make them seem like a more authentic couple.

“I could wear your clothes out,” she suggested.

“You already do that.”

“True, but they might notice it more now.”

“What about holding hands?” he said.

“We already do that too.”

That was true, but Luke also held hands with Reggie and Alex a lot when they were out and about. It wasn’t his fault – he just liked to touch the people he loved. 

“Maybe we should get proper wedding bands,” Luke mused. 

They both glanced at Julie’s hand. She had taken to wearing the ring he’d given her in Vegas pretty much every day. It looked large and out of place on her hand, but she slid it on every morning anyway. Luke would be lying if it didn’t make him feel a little bit smug.

“Maybe,” Julie said, twisting it on her finger. “What about… what about kissing?”

Luke’s heart fluttered.

“Kissing?” he asked in surprise.

Julie shrugged, avoiding his eye.

“Married couples kiss, is all. The only time anyone’s seen us kiss was in the video…”

The video of their chaotic wedding replayed on a loop in Luke’s head at least three times a day. The blurry image of him and Julie falling together while Reggie jumped up and down in drunken excitement and Alex’s head half blocked the camera was far from perfect, but something about it made him feel light and airy. 

“I mean, we could always just say we’re not into PDA,” he said, shifting uncomfortably. “If you don’t wanna–”

“I don’t mind,” Julie said quickly. “I mean, like… it’s just pretend, right?”

Ouch.

“Pretend,” Luke agreed. “Yeah. Okay. Kissing. We can try that.”

She jotted it down.

“I think we should let our parents throw that party,” he said. “You know, the one Victoria suggested? A wedding shower? Pictures from that could be pretty good.”

Julie bit her lip.

“Isn’t that a little dishonest?” she asked.

“Jules,” he reasoned. “If we’re already lying about being married, we should at least do it right.”

He wished he felt as sure about that as he sounded when he said it.

**Julie**

Married life with Luke was different from what Julie expected. Not that she’d thought about it enough to have expectations, or at least if she had she wasn’t about to mention it to anyone, but she could never have predicted how simple it would be. Waking up together, his arm around her as they snoozed in the evenings, spending the entire day together and writing songs as often as possible… it wasn’t much different to non-married life, even if they did have to go out of their way to publicly flaunt it now.

It wasn’t difficult. No one could say that dating Luke was a hardship, even if it was all for show. They went bowling and woke up the next morning to a viral picture of Julie jumping into Luke’s arms in excitement after a strike. When they had dinner out on the patio of a lovely Italian restaurant recommended by Julie’s dad they forgot about the poorly hidden cluster of paparazzi watching them from across the street and spent a couple of hours laughing over their food and playing footsie under the table. However, of all the pleasant outings spent together, Julie’s favourite date was the one without an audience. By some miracle they had managed to sneak away from the rest of the world and slip down to the beach together where they spent an afternoon rolling up their pants to paddle in the waves, cackling as they splashed one another, and watched the sunset from a seat upon the rocks. Luke had pulled her close as they watched the sky turn into a vibrant palette of smudged oranges, pinks and reds. She had leaned back into him, closing her eyes as she inhaled the mingling scents of the ocean air and his cologne, wishing for all the world that they didn’t have to go home just yet. 

> **@JATPFanOfficial mentioned you in a tweet • 7m ago**
> 
> _ Get you a man who looks at you like @PhantomLuke looks at @JulieMolina…  _
> 
> **[ID:** Four separate pictures of Luke making heart-eyes at Julie during different live performances. **End of ID.]**

> **INSTAGRAM • 4m ago**
> 
> **_@PhantomStans_ ** _ tagged you in a photo. _
> 
> **Caption:** _The way Julie smiles when she sees Luke_ ❤️
> 
> **[ID:** A short video dated one year ago. Luke, Alex and Reggie are waiting for Julie at a crowded airport arrivals gate. Julie walks through the door and spots Luke. Her face lights up as he ducks under the barrier to hug her.  **End of ID.]**
> 
> **@unsaidp4tterson commented:** _ they’re so in love _
> 
> **@phantomsmemes** commented:  _ I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY REALLY FOOLED US INTO THINKING THEY WEREN’T TOGETHER _
> 
> **@ghostbabe** commented:  _ god i wish that were me _
> 
> **@juliegolightly** replied to **@phantomsmemes:** _lmao ikr? they were so obvious_

> **@LiveWithCarrie • 3m ago**
> 
> _ We have a great show ahead tomorrow night. Interviews with special guests @TomHolland1996 and @Zendaya and a live performance from @JATPOfficial! #LiveWithCarrie _

> **SPOTTED: ROCKSTAR NEWLYWEDS TAKE ROMANTIC STROLL DOWN PRODUCE AISLE!**
> 
> **by Caleb Covington**
> 
> _ Current ‘power couple’ Julie Molina and Luke Patterson, members of world-renowned rockband Julie and the Phantoms, who were married last month in a surprise wedding in Vegas were spotted last night at Whole Foods Market. According to sources, the pair looked less than enthusiastic to be out together. Is the honeymoon phase already over?  _
> 
> **[ID:** A paparazzi shot of a tired Luke and Julie in their pyjamas, holding hands and browsing a shelf of snacks at a supermarket. They have not noticed the camera.  **End of ID.]**

**Luke**

“Have you seen this article?” Julie snorted, holding out her phone as Luke struggled to zip up his duffle bag.

He peered at it, letting out a huff of laughter when he saw the headline. Caleb Covington really was something else. 

“‘Is the honeymoon phase already over?’,” he read aloud. “What? Are you getting bored of me, Jules? What is it? My taste in Poptarts not good enough for you?”

“What can I say,” she shrugged, pocketing the phone and shoving him out the way to zip up the bag for him. “Strawberry just isn’t it, babe.”

He laughed, glancing at the clock. They needed to hurry if they were going to make their flight in time.

The band had been asked to perform on  _ Late Night Live With Carrie Wilson! _ In New York. At first, they’d been less than thrilled at the offer. Any other time, or show, they would have been ecstatic to do it, but…

“God, Carrie Wilson,” Julie sighed for the fifth time that morning. “Why does it have to be Carrie Wilson?”

The first time Luke had found out Julie knew Carrie, he’d been stunned. For as far apart as their lives seemed before the night they met, it had turned out they were connected all along by one single mutual acquaintance. Carrie Wilson had once been Julie’s best friend in middle school. Their friendship hadn’t lasted. Carrie Wilson also happened to be the cousin of Bobby Wilson, an unfortunate addition to her resume, and so Luke had been forced to conclude that ‘terrible at being a friend’ was an inherited trait that ran through the Wilson family. 

“Well she is like the hottest talk show host at the moment,” Luke reasoned.

Julie shot him a glare and he held his hands up in surrender, backpedalling on his mistake. 

“I meant that she’s like popular or whatever, not like hottest as in hottest-looking!”

Julie relaxed a little, but her scowl remained.

“She probably  _ is  _ the hottest-looking anyway,” she muttered. “I mean, she came straight from the fires of hell.”

Luke ducked his head and pretended not to laugh.

New York was a whirlwind of activity from the second they touched down. They were ushered straight to the studio, not even the chance of a nap at the hotel before the show, and sent straight to makeup. Reggie spent the entire time backstage flirting with a camera girl while Alex rolled his eyes and Julie messed with her hair. Nerves jittered through all of them. Live television… god, Luke would never get used to that.

“It looks fine,” Luke said, glancing up at her from the fan edit he was watching on Instagram.

_ ‘Luke Patterson calling Julie Molina an angel in twelve different interviews’.  _ He hit like on it instantly, following up with the comment: ‘she’s got wings!’

“It looks like I fell asleep on the plane,” she complained, not taking her eyes off the mirror. 

“You did.”

She shot him an unimpressed look and he grinned. She had made him agree to wake her up if she tried to nap on the plane so she wouldn’t wake up groggy, but when her head had lulled onto his shoulder he hadn’t been able to bring himself to follow through. He didn’t even mind when she left a patch of drool on his shirt.

“Look alive, guys,” Andi said from her perch in the corner. “Incoming.”

They turned just as the doors banged open and a flurry of harassed looking assistants and producers filled the hall outside. Carrie Wilson was a sharp-dressed predator in perfect lipstick. Reggie gulped audibly when her gaze zeroed in on them. Stalking into the dressing room, she gave the terrifying and distinct impression that she could crush everybody under her heel if she felt like it. It was no different to any other time he had met Carrie, but Luke still had to resist the urge to step back. 

“Julie!” Carrie greeted, giving Julie a wide hug and moving forward to kiss the air on either side of her head. Julie’s eyes widened in bemusement and the boys head to look away, biting their lips trying not to laugh.

“He-ey, Carrie.”

“Wow,” Carrie said, pulling back. “You look amazing. It’s been so long!”

“Yeah… since high school, I think,” Julie nodded.

Behind them, a cluster of suited professionals swarmed Andi to pepper her with questions. Carrie turned to the guys, her expression making him wonder if she practised the man-eating look in the mirror. 

“Boys,” she said slyly. “It’s so good to see you again! Wow, Reggie, is that a new haircut? And Alex! You’re… still tall.”

Alex and Julie glanced at each other – it was her turn not to laugh.

“And Luke!” Carrie wheeled around to face him. “I hear congratulations is in order! I was so surprised when I saw the news. I never thought you’d settle down, especially not with someone like Julie! You saw so many girls when we used to hang out!”

She glanced at Julie, lips curling even sharper.

“But I guess that’s what they mean when they say opposites attract, huh?”

It was like the five stages of grief had been put on quick-cycle through his brain. Julie no longer looked amused, her face stormy. Unsure of how to respond to so many backhanded compliments at once, Luke just settled for giving her the biggest smile he could.

“It’s nice to see you too, Carrie.”

“Anyway,” she said. “I’m just doing the rounds before we go on. Must dash.”

She snapped her fingers as she headed for the door and her posse of assistants hurried to follow her. 

“Oh, by the way,” she paused in the doorway. “Bobby says hi.”

They were left standing in stunned silence, the producers following suit and leaving Andi in place. 

“Why do I feel like I just got murdered?” Reggie asked. 

“It’s the Carrie Wilson effect,” Julie said, still gazing out the door. 

After a second, she snapped out of it and shook herself. She sent a questioning look at Andi.

“What was that about?”

“They were just double-checking all the agreements were signed and the boundaries for the interview were outlined,” she explained, but Luke couldn’t help but notice the usually-amused twinkle was missing from her eyes.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“She’s going to ask a couple of questions about you and Julie,” she sighed. “Look, I know you hate talking about your private life in interviews, but this is what the label wanted. Don’t throw a hissy fit.”

Luke scowled. What the hell did he and Julie’s relationship have to do with anything? They were here to perform. To talk about the next album. Did it matter what they were doing in their private lives?

“We’re never going to get to talk about the band again, are we?” Alex asked, voicing Luke’s thoughts. 

Andi gave a helpless shrug. Julie’s hand found its way into Luke’s, running a thumb across the ridges of his fingers in that reassuring way of hers, and he felt his shoulders relax just a little. Reggie shot him an amused look. His scowl deepened in response. 

“Look on the bright side,” Alex said. “At least she won’t ask about the lawsuit. I mean… she’s Bobby’s cousin.”

That was true, Luke mused. Last year they had gone through a particularly disastrous interview where the host had been intent on squeezing out every detail about the ongoing legal battle between the band and Bobby over the songs he’d stolen. Luke might’ve said a few harsh words. He might’ve stormed out too. So what? The interviewer had been pushing their buttons on purpose, suggesting Luke’s ego just couldn’t take somebody ‘having more talent than him’. Pfft. If that bothered him, he wouldn’t be in a band with  _ Julie. _

“Let’s just hope she doesn’t imply Luke’s a player on air,” Julie joked. “It’d give the PR team matching heart attacks.”

Despite their initial misgivings, the show went relatively well. They got to watch Tom Holland and Zendaya get interviewed from the side of the stage – Alex was so starstruck when they went by that he walked into a wall. Towards the end of the night, they were escorted on stage.

In Luke’s opinion, at least, they had never played a better performance of Perfect Harmony before. His heart skipped three beats when Julie laid across the piano to serenade him during the chorus, almost causing him to mess up his rhythm, and even to himself he couldn’t chalk it up to the adrenaline of a live show. Her deep brown eyes were too captivating. 

When they had finished playing they joined Carrie on the main stage. The guest couch was almost too small for all of them. Julie ended up half on top of Luke, and he slung his arm around her with a wide smile. Well, at least the PR team would be happy. They were keeping up appearances after all. 

“Welcome, welcome!” Carrie said as the applause died down, her smile warm and bright like this was her first time seeing them today and she hadn’t slipped backstage to remind them all they were lesser beings earlier that afternoon. “Julie and the Phantoms, everybody!”

There was another raucous round of applause, complete with several loud whoops and whistling. Luke couldn’t help but beam. Live shows were uncomfortable, but the genuine enjoyment of the crowd was always satisfying. They liked his music. That would  _ never _ not be awesome.

“So… guys, tell me… are the rumours true?” Carrie asked. “Are you guys working on a new album?”

It was surprisingly pleasant. They went through the usual promotional questions about their music, what they had planned, who they were working with, vague implications about star-powered collaborations around the globe… all that jazz. Luke began to relax, absent-mindedly rubbing his thumb in circles on Julie’s arm, just listening to Alex banter with Carrie about the choreography in one of their latest videos. 

It was because he let his guard down that he didn’t notice Carrie’s eyes focus on the way he held Julie. 

“Let’s talk about the elephant in the room,” Carrie pressed, leaning forward with a smile like a shark. Luke suddenly felt the urge to bolt. She had never been more obviously Bobby’s cousin than at that moment. “You guys have made a lot of headlines this year, and not just with your music! Luke and Julie, you two rocked the world of rock when you got married earlier this summer while on tour! Tell us, how’s married life treating you?”

Oh, great. Julie shot him a panicked look. Luke looked at Carrie.

“Pretty great, thanks for asking,” he said with an easy smile, hoping feebly that would be the end of it. Realistically, he knew better, but a desperate man could make as many wishes as he wanted. 

“Any honeymoon plans?” she asked. “It all happened quite fast, didn’t it? I don’t suppose you’ve had much time to take it all in.”

“Uh… we don’t have any plans to go away or anything,” Julie jumped in. “But our parents are throwing us a big party to celebrate next week. That’ll be fun. We didn’t get to have everyone at the wedding, you know, so this is their way of being involved.”

“So it’s true that it was a spontaneous decision then, getting married?”

They nodded. 

“Definitely not planned,” Luke laughed nervously. “But it was the best decision we’ve ever made, I think.”

Carrie smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Sweat began to bead at his temples, did the stage lights feel hotter all of a sudden? He was very aware of the fact they not only had a large studio audience but a live audience of several hundred-thousand right now. Thousands of eyes on him, watching him, taking in his lie.

“Whose idea was it?”

“The party?”

“No, the wedding.”

Oh.

“Sort of a mutual decision but… mine, I guess?” Luke said. 

“Well, I’m sure all your fans are just as desperate to know as me… what made you decide to take the leap?”

Was this an interview or an interrogation? Julie shifted uncomfortably next to him. A bottle of tequila flashed to mind. 

“Drunk courage,” he said, already knowing he’d be in trouble with the label for that one. But the audience laughed, and so did Carrie – an awful fake tinkling sound – and he relaxed a little. “I wouldn’t recommend it though… celebrating your marriage with a hangover isn’t ideal.”

“Oh, it was the worst,” Julie groaned, but she was laughing too. “I was ready to kill him when we woke up.”

They reminisced about the night for a few moments, glossing over the more truthful parts about it and making everyone laugh with a recount of Reggie and Alex’s balloon-filled entrance the morning after. 

“What I want to know is…” Carrie said, looking at Luke and lowering her voice to a stage-whisper as though they were telling secrets at a sleepover. “How did you know that she was the one?”

He looked at Julie, thoughtful. She stared back at him, one eyebrow raised and a look of apprehension on her face. Some lies were easier than others, he thought... because some lies weren’t really lies at all. 

“I woke up one morning on the bus, a couple of tours back,” Luke said. “And Julie was in the kitchen making breakfast. She was singing to herself, you know just nonsense basically, and she looked so happy. I just… knew. Right then.”

It had been their first tour together, actually. He had woken up to her voice, stumbled outside to find her making terrible omelettes, and thought about how she not only had the voice of an angel but everything about her matched it. Her laugh, her smile, her sense of humour, the fact she coordinated her hair accessories with her outfits, her grumpy expression in the morning, how she would tease them all over silly things… she was perfect.  _ She _ was an angel. He’d spent the rest of that tour watching her and Alex make up dance routines on their nights off, his chest aching, trying to muddle through what he felt. 

Sometimes he still wasn’t clear on what the answer was. Looking at her now, though, he knew he didn’t have to act to make his feelings believable. 

“I’ve been in love with Julie a long time,” he continued, matching Carrie’s gaze with an even tone. “She grounds me. She inspires me to be better, not just with music but with everything. She’s everything I could’ve asked for.”

The crowd cooed appreciatively. Julie’s expression was unfathomable. He squeezed her hand, relieved when she squeezed it in return.

**Julie**

The ride back to the hotel was a blur as Julie’s mind raced. Luke’s shoulder was a solid warm weight pressed against hers in the car and she was convinced it was the only thing keeping her from floating away at this point.

_ “I’ve been in love with Julie a long time.” _

How did he do that? How did he say things like that, in front of the entire world, without breaking a sweat? Sincerity had rung through his tone like a perfect chord. If she didn’t know better, she would have said that he’d been telling the truth. 

“Here’s you and Luke’s key,” Andi said, returning from the front desk and handing Julie a key-card.

She frowned at it. It had a large gaudy heart design on the front. Andi seemed to be struggling not to smile. Dread began to dawn – Alex and Reggie were sniggering where they stood waiting.

“The hotel has decided to gift you the honeymoon suite,” she explained. “The concierge saw the interview – apparently she’s sending up some champagne for you.”

“Oh my God,” Julie groaned in embarrassment as Alex and Reggie’s sniggers turned into full-on laughter. Luke elbowed them both, but it did little to help. 

“Save some for us, okay Jules?” Alex said. “Who knows what you guys will do next if you get that drunk again.”

“Maybe they’ll get a puppy together!” Reggie suggested, delight spreading across his face.

“Or a house.”

“Just don’t go adopting any kids,” Andi laughed. “I don’t think the suits could take it.”

“I hate all of you,” she said, stomping towards the elevators, Luke trailing along behind her in silence.

The room was beautiful, really. Julie kind of wanted to throw up. It was wide and spacious, the lights dimmed to a romantic glow, with a large fluffy bed in the middle covered in red rose petals shaped like a heart. A bucket of ice and champagne bottles had been left on a little cart for them, along with a tray of chocolate-dipped strawberries and a congratulatory card. They both stopped in the doorway, staring around in awe. 

“This is insane,” Luke said. “How did we get here?”

“We took the elevator.”

He shot her a look. 

“You know what I meant.”

She smiled, tamping down the whirling nausea building in her gut, moving over to flop across the bed. It bounced merrily beneath her as she let out a deep sigh. Luke was being weird – where he usually would have joined her straight away and made a game of jumping on the mattress, instead he headed straight for their bags and began digging through them for his pyjamas. He’d been quiet on the way back. In fact, they’d barely looked at one another.

“Did you mean what you said in there?”

Crap. She had meant to ask him to grab her toothbrush, not…  _ that.  _ He stilled, she held her breath watching him, and slowly he turned to look at her.

In the back of her mind, a terrifying thought began to unfold. It was something she had known since the first moment she laid eyes on Luke – a piece of knowledge which she had carefully folded away and compartmentalised because it would only cause trouble. 

He opened his mouth, then closed it again and bit his lip.

“Which part?” he asked finally.

He was deflecting. Luke could be a pretty good liar when he wanted to be, but… never with her. Julie had never struggled with secrets around Luke – they had so few of them. But maybe that was because the one they did have, the one they shared, was so big it took up too much room for the smaller kind. Maybe they had been hanging on to this quietly shared secret, both thinking it was only held on one side, much longer than she thought.

She slid off the bed, walking towards him with measured steps, and he stayed stuck in place until she was right in front of him.

“All of it.”

It rang in the silence around them, bright and obvious even in the dark, present in every brush of their fingers, every secret glance, through all the long nights lying there together talking until they fell asleep. Undeniable. 

“I’m really not that good at lying,” he admitted, breath shaking as he ran a finger gently down the side of her face.

“I know,” she whispered. “Neither am I.”

It was like a dam breaking, proof enough that this thing between them – this confusing, blurred tension that drove her crazy – was not just a figment of her imagination but so very real that it could be felt in the atmosphere. They fell together like waves breaking across the shore. His hands in her hair, her arms around his neck, their lips meeting in a furious kiss. It was two hearts pounding together as one, pulses jumping as they clutched one another, entwined. How was it possible that it felt like they had done this one thousand times before? As though they were meeting at a crossroads once more after several shared lifetimes together? In a moment of wild clarity, Julie became certain that she had never felt anything so right.

Luke pulled away with a gasp. Their chests heaved, trying to catch their breath, and he pressed his forehead down to hers with a smile. 

“We’re pretty good at that,” he said.

And she answered with another kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

**Luke**

Luke was kind of freaking out. Just a little bit. A smidge. He’d woken up about five minutes ago, blissfully warm and wrapped in an unbelievably soft comforter, and when he’d shifted onto his side it was to find Julie there, right where she should be, curled up next to him with her legs tangled in his. The events of the night before hit him like a truck, flooding back all at once and overwhelming his senses. 

He had told Julie he loved her. And she _hadn’t_ run away.

“Good morning,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to the shell of her ear as she snuggled in close to him.

“Mm,” she hummed, half-tired happiness radiating from her as she peeked up at him. “G’morning.”

They lay there for a moment. Around them, the world was quiet and nothing but the distant sound of the busy New York streets coming through the window could disturb the peace. Luke’s skin tingled where they touched. It was the closest he’d ever come to feeling truly content.

It would have been perfect, if not for one thing.

“I gotta move,” Luke sighed. “Nature calls.”

Julie rolled to the side, releasing him from the warm cocoon they’d created with their bodies, and he slipped out in search of a shirt. He was dimly aware of her eyes following him as he bent down to grab it from the floor. Once he’d pulled it on, he stuck a tongue out at her and giggled when she returned the gesture.

“We should talk about this, probably,” Julie suggested picking at the thread of the comforter where she sat.

“Can I pee first?”

Laughter huffed out of her and she nodded. Luke paused in the doorway just to look at her, admiring the way stray curls fell over her face and the wide collar of her shirt slipped down her shoulder a little. God, she was perfect. Everything from her eyes to her voice made him want to crawl back into the bed and just hold her for a while. However, he hadn’t been kidding about needing to pee, so he shot her a quick wink and made his way to the bathroom, humming cheerily as he went.

The next week flew by in small touches, glances from across the room, and soft kisses filling the quiet moments they stole alone. They didn’t talk about it but continued to suggest talking about it instead. It wasn’t as though they were avoiding it, Luke thought, but maybe just dancing around it a little. Every time the subject cropped up in conversation it seemed to be followed by a distraction; Flynn with a fashion emergency, Alex with a new beat, Carlos’ next baseball game. Luke wasn’t bothered. He knew they would have to talk about it sooner or later, this fake-but-not-really marriage they had going, but, for the moment, he was enjoying the pleasant glow of their little honeymoon bubble. 

The wedding shower was a festive affair. Victoria had somehow managed to get ahold of several hundred flowers and filled the Molinas’ house with dozens of vibrant bouquets – Reggie started sneezing the second he walked in. When Luke and Julie stepped over the threshold, a small cheer went up, the rooms already packed with their friends and family. Luke could’ve listened to Julie’s delighted laugh on repeat, he revelled in the bright smile she gave him as she stood on her tiptoes to press her soft lips to his cheek, and caught her by the waist to reel her in for a proper kiss.

“You look happy,” Alex said, wearing an infectious grin of his own as Luke slid into the kitchen to grab a couple of drinks for them. He and Reggie were perched on the counter with Carlos, playing a chaotic little game which seemed to involve throwing various snacks across the room and seeing if they could get them to land in different drinks.

He shrugged, feeling the corner of his mouth twitch involuntarily. All morning he’d been grinning like this.

“I’m always happy.”

“Happier than usual. It’s weird.”

“You look like you slept with a coathanger in your mouth,” Carlos chimed in.

Luke rolled his eyes.

“Can a guy not enjoy his wedding shower without it being suspicious?”

Three identical expressions of disbelief were angled his way. Fortunately for him, a distraction came in the form of Victoria popping her head around the kitchen door.

“Mijo, can you help me with the snacks?” she called.

Carlos let out a loud sigh but slipped from the counter with a quick “Later, guys” to do as he was told. Luke took his place, hopping up in between his two best friends and slinging his arms around them.

“Today’s a good day, boys.”

“What happened?” Alex asked.

Reggie gasped suddenly, his eyes lighting up.

“Did you guys get a puppy?!” 

“Wha– no. Why would we… never mind,” Luke shook his head in exasperation as Alex patted a deflating Reggie comfortingly on the shoulder. He lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear him. “Nah. No puppy, but we _did_ kiss.”

They both looked at him blankly.

“So?” Alex said.

“So? _So_ … we _kissed_.”

Alex and Reggie shared a confused look.

“You guys always kiss. Isn’t that the whole point? To like fool everyone?”

“Not like a fake kiss,” Luke said, annoyance growing. “Like a real one. She– I… I told her how I feel about her, you know? And she feels the same.”

“Wait, seriously?”

He nodded. Their faces broke out into the brightest grins he’d ever seen. Luke almost pitched forward from the force of the pats they gave his back.

“Thank God,” Alex said. “I thought it would take you guys forever to figure it out.”

“This is so awesome,” Reggie agreed. “You guys really _can_ get a puppy now.”

Before he could tell Reggie to hold his horses, though, they were interrupted once again by an appearance in the doorway. This time it was Luke’s mom. She smiled at them all, that warm motherly smile she always got on her face when she saw Luke’s friends, and she gestured to him.

“Luke, honey, can I have a word?”

“Uh,” Luke glanced at the boys. They shrugged at him, brows raised. Uh oh. He’d heard the phrase ‘Can I have a word?’ uttered by his mother many times before, when he was a teenager, usually preceding an argument. Apprehension filled him as he slid his drink back onto the counter and followed his mom out into the hall. 

She chose a secluded corner by the doorway just out of earshot of everyone else. Nobody was paying them any mind anyway, all the focus was on the complicated little dance routine that Julie and Flynn were running through over in the living room.

“Honey, focus,” his mom said, snapping her fingers and recapturing Luke’s attention.

He tore his eyes away from Julie’s joyful face.

“What’s up, ma?” he asked.

Despite his initial concerns, there had been no reason to worry. There was no stern look on her face, not an edge of harshness to her features, and the disappointment he’d come so used to in his youth was nowhere to be found. In fact, if he wasn’t mistaken, he thought maybe he could see a hint of pride there in her eyes. His own sweet smile reflected. 

“Actually, I wanted to give you something,” his mom said. “Could you hold my purse?”

Confusion bubbled up as he took it. His mom rummaged through the pockets for a moment, rustling through what seemed like an endless cluster of stuff, before finally making a quiet noise of triumph. He bit back a laugh – how did girls always have some much stuff on them? Luke had once watched the chaos of Julie dumping out the contents of her purse on the bar of a club they were in to make it easier to find her lipstick. It had been like a full-on survival pack, complete with phone chargers and a miniature emergency first aid kit.

“Here.”

She had tugged out a little bundle of tissue paper and pushed it at him. He handed the bag back, taking the crinkled little parcel carefully. A small black velvet jewellery box sat beneath the wrappings and when he popped it open he felt the breath leave him. 

It was a ring. An elegant, sparkling engagement ring. The stones glittered in the light, lining the delicately twisted silver, and two tiny sapphires had been carefully laid on either side of the large shining diamond in the centre. Luke stared at it, awestruck.

“Mom, what–”

“It was my grandmother’s,” she explained simply. “It was passed down to me by my mother, and I thought you could give it to Julie.”

Speechless. He was genuinely speechless. Much to his own horror, his eyes prickled with unshed tears and he felt his throat go dry. When he looked at his mother, her eyes were red-rimmed too. She reached up to brush his hair back for him.

“I’m proud of you, honey,” she said, patting the side of his face gently. “It’s nice to see you so happy.”

Closing the lid of the box gently, he pulled his mom into a tight hug.

“Thanks, mom,” and if his voice cracked a little as he said it, they both pretended not to notice. 

**Julie**

The world was a little fuzzy as Julie and the gang burst through her front door. Luke caught her as she stumbled through, his chest rumbling with laughter as he heaved her upright again. That third glass of champagne was catching up with her now.

“Whoops!” she said.

“Whoops!” the group chorused behind her, tittering with laughter.

They had headed straight over from the wedding shower, continuing the celebration even after the extended family and parents had trickled out the door and headed home. It had been Reggie’s idea to have an afterparty, when he’d received a phone call from a couple of guys from the band they’d last toured with, suggesting they get everybody over to celebrate in a less formal environment. They’d all deemed it an excellent idea, gathering up the remaining bottles of bubbly and waving goodbye to an amused Ray and Victoria as they tottered into a collection of cabs.

Within the hour, they had most of their friends gathered in the little apartment. Half the tour crew had shown up to join them, armed with actual kegs like it was a college frat party, and they were followed quickly by the neighbours Julie had slipped notes under the doors to. Luke’s favourite records blared to life on the speakers and Julie giggled as she listed sideways into him, falling onto the couch and snuggling up into his side to talk to those who’d joined them.

“I love this,” Julie laughed as Luke handed her a fresh drink.

As far as parties went, it might have been the best they’d had in a while. Somehow, Reggie and Flynn ended up sitting in the empty bathtub together brandishing bottles of champagne and singing a rousing and slightly offbeat rendition of _Old Town Road._ Willie showed up halfway through, much to the raucous delight of everybody else, and swept Alex into a bone-crushing hug that left him winded and bright red. Not long after his arrival, he climbed onto the coffee table and raised his glass.

“A toast,” he shouted. “To the gnarliest couple that we know.”

“Bert and Ernie?!” Reggie shouted from the bathroom.

Everybody laughed. 

“To Luke and Julie!” Alex finished for Willie.

“To Luke and Julie!” the apartment chorused, cheering.

Cackling, Julie buried her face in Luke’s chest as he downed his beer, hiccuping with laughter as he dropped the bottle on one of the side tables and pulled her fully into his lap.

At about one in the morning, a knock came at the door. If she hadn’t been on her way to the kitchen, Julie wouldn’t have heard it over the chaos. She hoped desperately that the neighbours who hadn’t joined weren’t too annoyed – she didn’t really want to deal with security in this state. She was only wearing one shoe. 

“It’s open!” she called, and she froze in place when the door opened.

Bobby Wilson stood there, a pair of sunglasses on and his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Luke was over and clutching Julie’s hand in a matter of seconds. The noise level seemed to dip for a second behind them.

“What are you doing here?” Luke demanded.

Bobby gave a casual shrug, slipping off his sunglasses and flashing that creepy little smirk of his. 

“Heard there was a party,” he said. “Just thought I’d come 'n offer my congratulations to the happy couple. I even brought you a wedding present… didn’t know what to get you, since I’m guessing you, uh, didn’t register.”

He held out a thin square package, wrapped in silver paper, to Julie. With a strong sense of wariness, she took it. Luke didn’t take his eyes off Bobby, the suspicious scowl deepening as Julie tore it open. It was a photo frame, simple and rose gold, but a pretty one. Actually, it was exactly the kind of thing she might have picked out for them herself. 

“Wow,” she said, genuinely impressed. “Thanks, Bobby. That’s really thoughtful of you.”

His white teeth gleamed – the smile got no less unnerving. 

“Glad you liked it,” he said. “Got any beer?”

Luke made to follow him as he slipped over the threshold, but Julie grabbed his arm to stop him. He looked at her, eyebrows raised in confusion, and she shook her head. 

“He hasn’t done anything,” she murmured. “And it is a nice gift. Maybe he really is just coming to celebrate.”

“He didn’t actually say ‘congratulations’ though,” Luke muttered in response, tracking Bobby’s path through the crowd as he flirted his way towards the refrigerator. 

“It’s not worth a fight. Let’s just have a nice night, okay? Don’t let him get to you.” 

With a kiss to Luke’s jaw, Julie let go of his hand and continued on her mission to get another drink. Even as she stopped to talk with some of their merch girls, giggling madly over some absurd texts messages between one of them and the guy she was talking to, her eyes flicked back over to Bobby. He wasn’t doing anything – he’d grabbed a drink and joined a conversation with some people in the corner – but something about his presence set her on edge. Luke was watching him like a hawk from his perch on the arm of the couch. 

The photo frame glimmered under the lights, bright and beautiful, and she wondered for a moment if Bobby really was just trying to make peace. It couldn’t be the most impossible thing, right? He and Luke had been friends. Maybe it was time to put the past behind them and grow up a little.

Content to take that as an explanation, she let herself relax. It was her wedding shower. Worrying could wait for another day.

**Luke**

When everybody finally left around four am, Luke looked around the trashed apartment and decided that clear-up could wait for now. Julie had already headed into the bedroom and the prospect of joining her was far more preferable to digging out the trash bags. Trying not to look too much like an eager puppy, Luke bounded into the room and launched himself onto the bed, sending her bouncing sideways in a tidal wave of laughter.

They calmed down eventually, after a small shoving matching, and lay in bed, all loose limbs and drunken contentedness, the comforter halfway to the floor from Julie’s failed attempt to climb onto the mattress after tripping over trying to put her pyjamas on.

“I was thinking about that vow ceremony that tia Victoria suggested,” Julie murmured sleepily, stretching out along his side.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Maybe we could, I mean if you’re into it, maybe we could do it? It might be nice, you know… just to make our parents happy.”

 _‘Just to make our parents happy’_ , ha. Luke smirked at the ceiling and ran a hand carefully through her hair. 

“I think it’d be cool,” he said. “Just our families?”

“Hmm… we could invite Willie, too,” Julie said. “He’s gonna end up family anyway, the way he and Alex are going.”

“You’re totally right,” he smiled, thinking about the besotted look on Alex’s face when Willie had walked in. Apparently, Willie had spent the day driving down to see them. Who knows how long he’d stay, but they all hoped it would be for a while.

He picked up Julie’s hand, sliding his fingers in between hers and admiring the way they interlocked so easily. Her hand was so small in his. His ring still sat on her finger, much too big. He couldn’t wait to show her his grandmother’s heirloom. She squeezed gently, and he squeezed back in response. 

Yeah, vows would be cool. 

A couple of days later, things took a turn. Luke found himself back at the label’s offices, called in to sign a couple of things and doublecheck some paperwork. It had been a hectic morning, Alex and Reggie had gone home to see their families for the week and Julie was busy with a slew of meetings about an upcoming solo performance for a charity she was involved in. It had been oddly lonely, waking up with her already up and out. They still hadn’t had _the talk_. Luke had taken to carrying his grandmother’s ring around in his pocket, fiddling with it idly, waiting for the perfect time to give it to her. He was very much stuck in his own thoughts about this as he headed into the building.

“Hey, Luke,” a loud voice pulled him back to reality. “‘Sup.”

Luke sighed, turning slowly to see Bobby lounging on one of the lobby couches with a magazine in hand.

“Didn’t know you were into landscaping,” he skipped over a greeting, nodding to the outdated magazine he’d been pretending to read.

Bobby threw it down on the little table to the side with an unsettling smirk. Luke’s guard went up immediately.

“I’m not much of a plant person. Not the most interesting reading material,” Bobby said. “Gotta be honest. Not like at your place.”

It was as though icy water had been dumped over his head. Something in his tone sent warning flares up in his mind. A pleasant conversation with Bobby? No way. There was always a catch. Luke stared at him, narrowing his eyes, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“What d’you mean by that?”

Bobby shrugged, a lazy half-smile on his face. “Oh you know, just you and Julie’s apartment. You guys have a lot of notebooks just laying around, y’know? Don’t you ever take breaks from writing?”

If any more of Luke’s songs popped up on the radio before he’d recorded them himself he wasn’t just going to sue, he was going to commit a full-on murder.

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Hm, nothing really. Just saying.”

Weird. Bobby just kept smiling.

“Okay…” Luke turned to leave but only got about ten feet down the hall before Bobby called after him.

“I might have a new favourite though. _‘Julie and Luke’s Guide To Faking A Romance’,_ ” and then added with a huff of amusement. “ _‘...For Dummies.’_ Wow. That one really caught my eye. What a read. I think other people might be pretty interested in reading it too, you know?”

Luke’s insides went cold. Turning around, he stalked back over to the couches and Bobby rose to meet his eye with that shark-like look in his eye. 

“What do you want?” Luke growled.

The sleazy smirk instantly vanished and Bobby became all business.

“Drop the lawsuit,” he said.

They stared at one another. Luke crossed his arms, balling up his fists as tight as they would go and letting the feeling of his nails sinking into his palm take the edge off his anger. This was unbelievable. All of this? Just over a freaking lawsuit? Bobby was so underhanded sometimes it made him want to scream. How had they come so far from their seventeen-year-old selves, when all they’d wanted was to play music together and have other people listen? When had did it all get so twisted?

“You’re fucking crazy,” Luke said. “You stole _my_ songs, broke up our entire band, and now you wanna wreck my relationship on top of everything else? Over what, money?”

“Money,” Bobby shrugged. “Reputation. See, the thing is… your fans are kinda loud, you know? All this legal stuff gives me a bad rap.”

He snorted. _Unbelievable._

“It’s not like you’re losing out on sales.”

Bobby’s face was on billboards, for crying out loud. One of his records had gone platinum. Luke remembered it clear as day, three years ago… hm. Actually, it had been a while since he’d heard any of Bobby’s stuff on the radio. There was a pause. Understanding dawned on him.

“It _is_ effecting your sales,” Luke guessed. “Jesus Christ. See, maybe you should learn to write your own shit instead of screwing everybody else over.”

Bobby scoffed. “And you think _your_ fans will still be so quick to defend you when they know you’ve been lying to them for publicity?”

“We weren’t–-” he spluttered. “It wasn’t for publicity. We’re not like _you.”_

Bobby rolled his eyes. “Sure. And you’re gonna skip off happily into the sunset like a Hallmark movie too. Sounds real believable. Whatever.”

“You little–”

“Drop the ‘suit,” he said again. “Or I’ll drop you in it.”

Luke watched him walk away, feeling like a rug had been pulled out under him.

  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter 6

**Julie**

Trudging up the stairwell to the apartment, Julie’s mind was on a glass of wine and the bathtub. After what might actually be the worst day ever, she felt she desperately needed some time to relax. Everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong while she was out. She’d had three different meetings and hadn’t made it on time to a single one of them. There had been some kind of accident on the freeway, taking the LA traffic from its usual nightmarish form to downright hellish levels. While hurrying into the first building, she had walked into a glass door in front of everybody and her nose still felt bruised. Not long after that, she ended up spilling half a cup of coffee down her shirt and had no time to change in between running from place to place. The meetings went okay, but she was so exhausted by midday she was certain that she must’ve come across bored and complacent which she didn’t like. Julie was the kind of person who liked to make a good impression when it came to professionalism. She didn’t half-ass things. 

Man, she was relieved to be home.

Unfurling her hair from its tight bun the second she walked through the door, she let out a dramatic exhale and looked around. The windows were open and the radio was on, but Luke was nowhere in sight. She wondered if she could convince him to give her a foot massage if she promised to watch _Fast And Furious_ with him again.

“Honey, I’m home,” she called in the cheesiest sitcom voice she could manage.

After a moment, Luke’s head appeared around the edge of the bedroom door, followed quickly by the rest of him. He was dressed in his favourite pyjama pants and the over-sized sweater he’d stolen from Julie a few months ago. He looked soft and inviting.

“Hey,” he said. “How was your day?”

“God, it was the worst. You wouldn’t believe how much went wrong, honestly I…” she trailed off, frowning. “Are you okay?” 

The bags beneath his eyes were dark bruises and his shoulders were tense. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who’d had an exhausting day. They could flop together, maybe fall asleep on the couch, he’d probably love that too.

“Uh, yeah,” Luke said, heading over to the kitchen table to sit at his open laptop. “Long day, is all.”

“Well, I have the perfect cure for that. I was thinking we could watch a movie or something,” she said, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around him to press a kiss to his cheek. “We could order out?”

There was a pause. Luke didn’t twist around as she’d expected, nor did he turn his head to kiss her properly, but instead just shrugged and continued to stare at the laptop screen.

“I can’t,” he said. “I promised Andi I’d get those files sent over to her.”

“Oh, well that’s okay,” Julie straightened up feeling disconcerted. “That’ll only take, what, like fifteen minutes? We can just–”

“I’ve got some other shit to do too.”

“Oh. Okay.”

There was a pause.

“Did I…” she started uncertainly. “Did I do something wrong?”

Luke did turn around then, his expression softening. 

“No! No,” he assured her. “I’m just in a bad mood, sorry. It’s nothing to do with you. We can order out if you want.”

He took her face between both hands and pressed a quick kiss to her nose. Julie smiled, stepping back with a nod, but she felt anything but relieved. Luke fidgeted in that way he often did when he lied.

“I’m gonna go take a bath then,” she said. “You mind calling for food when you get a moment?”

“Sure thing.”

She wandered into the bathroom feeling off-balance. Luke lied, everybody did, but he rarely lied to her. Something was wrong, that was for sure. 

**Luke**

Guilt gnawed at Luke’s insides as the sounds of the running taps filled the apartment. Once he’d come home, having taken nothing in from the label execs he’d talked to that morning thanks to his distracted train of thoughts, he’d collapsed onto the couch and spent a restless afternoon trying to think of a solution to their current predicament.

If he dropped the lawsuit then not only would it mean conceding to Bobby, but it would be a betrayal of Alex and Reggie too. Bobby had taken all of their songs. Luke’s thoughts and feelings put to music. All that work they’d put in for _years_. He’d destroyed them. 

People were already divided on who was telling the truth about the music. The number of doors that had been slammed in their faces because higher-ups thought Luke was causing trouble had set them back so far before they’d found Julie.

But if he didn’t drop the lawsuit…

Bobby could and would tell the tabloids. Luke had looked all over the apartment. He hadn’t just taken the list, he had taken the whole notebook. The fans knew what their handwriting looked like at this point, Luke had posted enough pictures of lyrical snippets and doodles from that notebook on his Insta in the past, it was identifiable. Not only would Luke be called a liar, but Julie would also too, and all their credibility in the lawsuit would be destroyed anyway. Nobody would take them seriously anymore. 

Julie deserved better than that.

He had meant to tell her right away. In fact, he’d been planning what to say from the minute she’d texted to say she was on her way back, but when she’d walked through the door talking about how terrible her day had been… 

He just couldn’t do that to her right now. 

It would be fine, he thought. He could figure this out himself. It was his problem, after all. Julie had nothing to do with the lawsuit – she hadn’t brought on Bobby’s wrath. She shouldn’t have to worry about this on top of everything else. Luke could deal with it. 

It would be _fine._

**Julie**

Agreeing to the vow ceremony sent Julie’s family into a frenzy of planning that was just a little bit terrifying. It seemed as though Victoria had been waiting for this very moment. Julie sat down for lunch with her one afternoon to tell her and the next thing she knew her aunt was pulling an enormous binder from her purse filled with different wedding concepts and clippings from bridal magazines.

Never let it be said that Victoria was underprepared. 

Julie left most of the planning to her and their parents. Flynn threw herself in too, sitting with Victoria and making intense choices between lilies and roses. Any other time, Julie might have been going just as crazy over it. Hell, Luke would be involved too. But Luke had been more than off lately and it had thrown Julie into a state of near-constant concern. He was distant, not sleeping right, spending more than one night a week falling asleep on the couch rather than by her side. The more she needled him about it the shorter his responses got. All of a sudden, she found herself afraid that he was having second thoughts. Maybe he’d just gotten too caught up in the fantasy of it all. Maybe now reality was starting to hit.

Her bottom lip was getting chapped where she bit at it.

“Here it is!”

Victoria came bustling into her bedroom brandishing a large white box. It was supposed to be an exciting day – dress day. They needed to make sure everything fit. Instead of making her buzz with excitement, Julie found it just made her feel nauseous. 

Her aunt laid the box out on the bed, tugging up the lid to reveal a mountain of pale tissue paper atop carefully a folded gown. She lifted it out and Julie’s distractions disappeared from her mind with a gasp.

She reached out a hesitant finger, brushing the tips against the soft skirt.

“It’s beautiful.”

Julie had seen the dress before, but only in the photographs that were sometimes still too painful to look at. Her mom had glowed like an angel in the gown, radiating fairytale joy with a wide smile, her dad with his arms wrapped around her in a loving promise. Victoria had kept it safe. The silk and lace remained unchanged from all those years ago. Timeless and classic. 

“Do you want to try it on?”

She could only nod.

The fabric pooled delicately at her feet. It fit just right, silk soft against her skin and hugging the edges of her body like a glove. Turning to face the mirror, Julie took a step back in shock. Victoria smiled over her shoulder, eyes wet.

“You look just like her,” she murmured, fixing Julie’s hair.

That was an understatement. If not for the generation between them, Julie and Rose Molina could have been identical twins. What would her mom have thought about that? Would she be happy for Julie or would she know, just as she always had done, that something wasn’t quite right?

Julie took another step back. Then another. And then she collapsed back into the armchair with a heavy breath, horrified to find herself choked up, burying her face in her hands with a half-sob.

“What’s wrong, _Mija_?” Victoria sounded alarmed. “Is it because your mom’s not here?”

Yes. No. Yes and no. Julie shook her head.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, _tía_.” 

Victoria perched on the arm of the chair, peering at her with a level of concern that Julie hadn’t seen on her face since she was a teenager. She rubbed a comforting hand down her back, pulling her against her side and letting her rest her head against her.

“What do you mean?”

“I–” she sniffed. “Have you ever felt like everything is right on the edge of going wrong? It’s just… things have been so weird lately. I don’t know what we’re doing. Me and Luke. We rushed into things, you know? And now it’s like… is this what he really wants?”

There was a pause.

“Is this what _you_ really want, Julie?” Victoria asked softly.

When Julie thought about it, there was no one better than Luke. He knew her inside out. If things got tough he was there. He always knew what she needed. Sometimes it felt like he could read her mind. If she was going to spend her life with anybody it would be him, he was her rock, her best friend. 

But he was barely even talking to her right now.

“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her face. “I’m just being silly. Cold feet, you know? Let’s just… let’s keep going. I’ll be okay in a minute.”

Victoria hummed in agreement, getting up to grab the sewing tin to double-check if they needed any adjustments. Julie didn’t miss the way the frown lingered on her face though. Her expression mirrored just how Julie felt. 

**Luke**

The vow ceremony arrived before Luke could catch his breath. On the morning of, Luke stood with Reggie and Alex in the dressing room they’d been allocated. It was a little church, a beautiful ageing stone building, the same one where his own parents had been married. Luke tugged at the tie around his neck, hot and itchy, wishing the sleeves on the tux he wore didn’t feel so restrictive.

“You okay, bro?” Alex asked.

The version of mirror that stared back at him from the mirror didn’t look like the real Luke at all. He was playing pretend. Pasting on a happy smile when everything was crumbling around him. What had he been thinking?

Dropping the lawsuit would mean Julie went untouched, but it also meant Alex and Reggie lost out too. He couldn’t do that to them. There was only one option that spared them all. He’d made his decision. He needed to live with it now. 

Bobby couldn’t out a fake-relationship when there was no relationship to out at all.

“I think… I just need to go talk to Julie a sec,” he said, heading for the door.

“Wait!” Reggie said. “You can’t see her in her dress before the wedding – it’s bad luck!”

Luke sighed. “We’re already married, Reg.”

Julie’s dressing room was across the hall. Flynn and Victoria had been in and out all day, running around to grab forgotten accessories and make sure everything was set. They’d gone out to check on the flowers earlier. As far as he knew, they’d yet to return. Good. A private moment was what they needed. He knocked quietly, half hoping Julie wouldn’t answer.

“Come in.”

He opened the door, muttering the practised words under his breath to keep them in mind, but the second he looked up they disappeared from his thoughts along with his stolen breath. 

Julie was stood in front of a golden mirror, readjusting the long veil attached to the pearl combs slid into the elegant bun of hair. Catching his eye in the glass, she turned in surprise as he gaped. She looked like a snow queen adorned in ivory and lace. Luke was falling in love all over again. 

“You look–” he faltered.

Perfect. Amazing. There were no words to describe her. Three years ago, Luke Patterson had walked out of a karaoke bar a changed man. It was all because of her. He had loved Julie from the moment he saw her, the first note he heard her sing... when her laughter had first touched his life. Every second with her was a blessing. She’d brought him nothing but joy since that first night.

What had he brought her? Lies and falsehood. Threats of public humiliation. God, today was meant to be her day. _Their_ day.

It could all be ruined for her in a second. What had Luke been thinking? Julie was the kind of woman that deserved a _real_ relationship. A life with somebody who wasn’t a complete disaster all the time. She deserved a love story that didn’t start as a pretence, not a husband who convinced her to lie to their families and their friends and their fans. 

“I can’t do this.”

The words came out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“Wha– Luke?” 

She stared at him. Luke swallowed, shaking his head.

“I can’t do this,” he said again. “I just– this was a mistake.”

“Are you serious right now?” she demanded. “Are you bailing?”

“You deserve more than this, Julie.”

“I des- oh, don’t give me that bull, Luke,” she huffed, stalking towards him. “You’ve been off for two weeks now. This isn’t about me, is it? This is… this is you, freaking out. You’re just- what is it with you? I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, or with us… when did we stop communicating, huh?”

“Julie…”

“I thought we were supposed to be a team,” she said, voice cracking. “I thought we were done just screwing around? You said… I mean. You’re not supposed to bail on me like this.”

How did they get here? She wasn’t meant to feel the same way. It was meant to be make-believe. It would be so much easier if it was make-believe. He could tell her everything, they could sort it all out, there would be no hard feelings. He should never have said anything.

“It was only supposed to be a few months,” he murmured, dropping his eyes to the floor.

Silence rung around them. Luke kinda wanted to throw up. Julie said nothing. After a moment, she turned and headed through the back door. It slammed. Luke stood there, alone and ashamed, wondering when everything got so messed up.

  
  
  



	7. Chapter 7

**Three Years Earlier – Julie**

There was nothing that made Julie feel more alive than the roar of a crowd singing along with her. Okay, so it wasn’t exactly a roar, and the crowd was a tiny karaoke bar crammed with drunk students and two excitable bachelorette parties, but it was thrilling all the same. She and Flynn teetered on their heels, clutching onto one another and doubled over in laughter as they struggled not to drop their microphones. Whitney Houston blared out of crackling speakers around as they basked in the amusement of the other patrons cheering them on. 

_“Clock strikes upon the hour,”_ she hiccuped into the mic, cackling as Flynn threatened to topple right off the little stage. _“And the sun begins to fade…”_

It was her nineteenth birthday. New York City was a wonderland of adventure and promise. That had been the initial draw. She hadn’t expected it to turn out the way it had so far; the past few months had been an agonising stretch of studying for finals, watching anybody and everybody else figure out what they wanted to do, and Julie felt like she’d been thoroughly left in the lurch with it all. Time was moving on without her. She was stuck. But none of that mattered right now – she was with her best friend and she was having the time of her _life_ beneath the neon rainbow of lights swirling above them. _This_ was what she’d been looking for when she left for college. Spontaneity, magic… the unknown. It was miles away from the Los Angeles suburbs she’d grown up in. The future was now.

 _“Ohhh, I wanna dance with somebody!”_ she belted out as Flynn twirled her around. 

By the bar, someone whistled loudly. A cluster of boys had bustled in, watching the girls as they headed for the bar. There was something a little bit familiar about them. They must’ve belonged to one of the frats, Julie thought, they’d probably been at the same parties or something. Giddy with joy and a little buzzed from the vodka Flynn had snuck into their dorm room earlier, she pointed her finger at them as she sang. They laughed when they noticed her gesturing for them to join in, mouthing along with her, and she grinned as the one at the front broke away from the group. He wound his way towards the stage, tired eyes on Julie and a wide smile on his lips. She held out her mic.

His voice blew her away.

_“Oh, I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna feel the heat with somebody. Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody, somebody who loves me…”_

Flynn whooped, knocking her hip against Julie, and they both laughed as she staggered sideways. A shocked breath hitched in her throat as her shoe clipped on the side of the stage, sending her tumbling, but she wasn’t sure if it was in response to the sudden jolt of the fall or the strong arms that caught her.

Hazel eyes met brown and that was it. She was a goner.

**Present-day**

Ten missed calls. Fourteen texts waiting. All social media notifications turned off. Julie clutched the fluffy cushion in her arms tighter and stared at the ceiling. How was it that, in a matter of months, all the parts of her world that had made the most sense had come crumbling down? It was as though every feeling that had ever pierced her heart had been pulled out, one by one, with a sharp pair of tweezers. Slow and excruciating. 

Her heart had been broken before. Back in high school, there had been a boy named Nick so beautiful that it hurt her chest every time he smiled, and she had fallen head over heels with all the carelessness of a teenager in love. When they broke up she cried for three days, made Flynn watch _Dirty Dancing_ with her twice, and ate her weight in ice cream. The world had seemed bleak. It took months to get over it.

It was nothing compared to this.

_“This was a mistake.”_

Luke’s words echoed in her mind like a terrible alarm bell, wrenching her out of a sweet daydream and pulling her back into the nightmare that was reality. Since storming out of the church, Julie had cycled through every stage of grief at least twice.

It wasn’t really happening. Luke was just getting cold feet, said the denial. Anger had come accompanied by the sight of her favourite vase, a floral eyesore Luke had bought her their first Christmas in the band, and she’d knocked it to the floor like a child having a temper tantrum. It didn’t break. She wondered if she could talk him out of being stupid. She’d managed it before. Maybe he just needed some time.

Then the overwhelming truth of what had occurred came creeping in, and the tears came pouring out, and she curled up on the floor with her back against the door, still in her dress, trying not to smudge mascara on the delicate silk.

She didn’t know how long she sat there. Eventually, when it felt like her chest would cave in if she gave another sob, she pulled herself to her feet and headed into the bedroom to clean herself up. The rest of the afternoon had been a blur ending with her on the couch, _Dirty Dancing_ playing on the TV, cuddling a cushion by herself. When she woke up the next morning, in the same place with the same hollowed-out feeling making her sniffle, Luke had still not been home. He was probably staying with the guys, she guessed. 

Flynn had come by after the sixth missed call, but Julie put the chain on the door and told her she didn’t want to talk. Flynn had yelled outside in the corridor for an hour before giving up, her pleas falling on deaf ears, and Julie had just turned the volume up on the television. When she returned with Carlos, Julie simply went into the bathroom and hid until they’d left again. She didn’t know what Luke had told the others. She herself sure as hell hadn’t stopped to explain as she tore her way out of the building. 

Maybe she was being stupid, but the shame and humiliation of it were just too much to bear right now. She didn’t want to talk and she didn’t want to be comforted. She just wanted to wallow.

 _Wallowing won’t get you any answers though_ , said an annoying little voice at the back of her mind. It sounded suspiciously like her mother. It wasn’t wrong though, was it? She was going to have to face it eventually. 

Texting her dad back seemed safer than an actual conversation, though. Baby steps. 

With a sigh, she reached out to grab her phone, she hesitated as silver flashed in the light. His ring, large and ugly on her finger, stared back at her. That solemn ache was back. She hadn’t the heart to take it off yet. Pushing that to the side – she’d deal with it later – she flicked open the screen and tapped out a quick response to her dad. Yes, she was fine, no she didn’t want him to come over, she’d explain another day, she just wanted to be alone for a while.

It wouldn’t satisfy any of them, but at least her family knew she was still alive. 

She ignored all messages from Reggie and Alex, well aware that she wouldn’t be able to handle them right now, and hesitantly opened the most recent few left by Flynn.

**New Message from Flynn:**

I don’t know what happened, but Luke’s being dumb too. You guys need to get your act together. 

**New Message from Flynn:**

File Attached: Evidence _That _Luke _Is _Your_Person.docx

What had he said to her? Julie scowled and closed them without bothering to open the document. The idea that Flynn had talked to Luke before she had even had a chance to talk to him properly herself riled her. There was no peace these days – when was her private life going to go back to being a private life and not a circus production?

She was still fuming over this when her phone began to ring. Convinced it was one of her friends again, she moved to hit the reject call button, but the screen flashed insistently.

**_Amanda (Legal) calling…_ **

Oh. Christ. What did the legal team want? Had news already leaked about her and Luke? Was somebody getting sued? It wasn’t a call she could ignore this time. Taking a deep breath, she answered.

**Luke**

“Yeah, okay. I’ll talk to you later. Thanks.”

It was with a numb hand that Luke put down the phone as his mom slid a cup of hot chocolate across the table for him. All of that, and for what? Every part of him felt burned out. Whether it was his body’s avoidant reaction to the waves of hurt that kept hitting him or the fact he hadn’t eaten properly in two days, his insides were empty. 

“Who was that?” his mom asked gently, setting her own cup down.

His childhood home had always felt like a cage when Luke had been a kid, the place that held him back, but now it was a comfort. Its faded wallpaper and cluttered shelves surrounded him with a warmth he might have welcomed if he hadn’t felt so guilty. 

“Legal,” he said gruffly. “Apparently our marriage license was never valid in the first place. Something got messed up with the signing or filing or whatever.”

He looked down at the pile of whipped cream and marshmallows before him. Nausea rolled through his stomach. All of that lying and deceit. Standing in that church and choking out a lie to his best friend. It had been for nothing. Pointless. 

“Is that not what you wanted?” she asked. “An easy way out.”

Unlike his friends, his parents hadn’t needled him for answers about what had happened after Julie left. Instead, they had exchanged a knowing look and invited him home. He’d gone willingly, ignoring the confusion of his bandmates and Flynn, and let the painful shame of it all swallow him whole. He had told the two of them the truth, in the end, the ring in his pocket weighing him down and the self-hatred growing unbearable. It was strange. Luke had grown up so used to feeling as though his mom’s gaze was judgemental, prying, rather than concerned. As an adult, he could recognise it better now – the worry in her eyes – and he wondered how much easier his teenage years would’ve been if he’d had that same awareness then. Would he still be where he was today, without all the mistakes of the past?

“I guess. I just wish they’d found the mistake sooner… it would’ve us all this bullshit.”

She tutted over his language. He poked at a marshmallow, almost tempted to smile. But then another wave of guilt came rushing in, needling at the way he dared to feel any sort of joy after what he’d done, and he pushed the cup away with a sigh.

“There was no point in us being together in the first place.”

“Oh, Luke,” his mom covered his hand with hers, looking him in the eye. “Do you really believe that’s true?”

Yes. No. Maybe. It didn’t matter whether it was true or not. With the way things had gotten so messed up, Bobby had even more leverage than before. Without a legal marriage certificate, he really could make it look like a publicity stunt.

He pushed away from the wounded feeling in his chest, telling himself it was more to do with the betrayal of an ex-friend than the knowledge that he’d never been married to Julie.

“I’m gonna go to bed,” he said, at last, pushing back from the table. “Thanks for the hot chocolate.”

He headed up the stairs to his old bedroom, ignoring the feeling of her eyes on his back. He needed to call Alex and Reggie.

**Julie**

Insanity. Julie put the phone down feeling as though her whole body had been submerged in ice. She had been forced to ask Amanda to repeat what she’d said three times before her mind had fully taken it in. Apparently, as it had transpired, upon double-checking the paperwork for Julie and Luke’s vegas wedding, the legal team had found a mistake. The marriage had been illegitimate from the beginning. They’d had no reason to pretend.

Her heart was shattered for no reason.

The phonecall had launched her into a whole new downward spiral. A mess of confusing emotions swirled through her as she paced the apartment. Everywhere she looked, a piece of Luke jumped out at her. His favourite jacket slung over a kitchen chair, his notebooks strewn across the coffee table, his records in the corner. Hurt. Anger. Sadness. It was an endless cycle. 

He had said he loved her. Had he meant it, or had it all been a ruse? Had he just gotten too involved? Nothing made sense anymore. She thought she knew him better than that. And if she had been fooled… well, everyone else had been fooled too.

It was with blind rage that she finally opened the document Flynn sent her. Dangerous move or not, she needed the reassurance that it wasn’t just her. She needed to know that everyone else had seen it too.

The file loaded up. It was a large document – fifteen pages full of video links, photographs and screenshots of articles, posts, and tweets. God. Flynn was crazy. How long had she taken to compile all of this?

Hating herself a little bit, Julie scrolled down.

There was a photograph of Luke laying across the couch of the first proper tour bus they’d been given, his head in Julie’s lap and her hand in his hair. Then another of the two of them stuffing leftover noodles in their faces distractedly as they worked on a new song, Alex’s exasperated face in the background.

Next were a selection of links. She clicked one. It took her to a fan compilation of clips where Luke could be seen doing the specific little nod he always aimed her way when he wanted her to share the mic. After that, she went to a “JATP Funny Moments” video on YouTube where the opening clip was taken from their tour diary, Luke making fun of Julie for flirting with some fans. She involuntarily smiled when his crackling video voice called “I know you’re smiling!” to her retreating back.

There was a quote by Julie from the festival interview they’d done in England with Kerrang! 

_“I’m not surprised he has so many fans. Have you seen him? He’s adorable.”_

She’d meant it. He’d teased her saying she was his biggest fan of all but had been inexplicably pleased when she’d agreed. After all, he was hers too. 

That quote was followed by one from an MTV interview with Luke.

_“She makes me a better writer.”_

Julie wanted to cry all over again.

There were articles through the years speculating about their relationship, the ones they’d always mocked together before Vegas, and tweets from fans pointing out the way Luke smiled whenever Julie got mentioned, Julie’s laugh around Luke, the way they would gush about each other’s talents.

 _“How did the name of the band come about?”_ asked an interview in one.

Julie laughed as she explained. _“Well, you know, it started off as a joke by my friend Flynn…”_

Because Luke had kept popping up trying to convince Julie to form a band with them and Julie accused him of haunting her. Flynn had claimed the boys were her own personal Phantoms. The first Halloween they’d played together, the guys had dressed up as ghosts.

The memory was tinged in a sweet rose-coloured glow.

Another video. This one of Luke speaking sweet but terrible and hesitant Spanish while Carlos and Julie tried not to snigger in the back. He had tried learning it for her. She’d thought it was for songwriting purposes until Reggie told her that Luke had been learning to cook Puerto Rican food too.

You couldn’t fake that kind of dedication. So why had he left her now?

The last link was titled **_‘Wedding video.’_ **

Julie hesitated, shut her eyes, and clicked.

 _“Alex, dude, you’re in the shot,”_ came Willie’s fond voice from the screen. Julie peeked through her lashes. It was shakey and only half-focused. Reggie danced in an out of frame clutching his phone, video-calling Flynn, excited. Ahead of them, stood by a plump old man dressed as Elvis, were Luke and Julie. They were falling against one beneath an arch built from large fake roses, laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. 

_“To have and to hold,”_ Luke was saying, his thousand-watt smile beaming down at Julie. _“From this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in– wait what is it again? Oh, yeah, right. In sickness and in health, to love and all that jazz, ‘til touring takes us out.”_

Video-Julie laughed, barely getting her own butchered vows in response, but calmed immediately when Luke lifted her hand to slide his ring onto her finger. When they kissed, the memory of it came flooding back. The hoots from their friends, the warmth of Luke’s lips against hers, the utter rightness of it all.

She could remember, for the first time, thinking it was the best decision she’d ever made. Even better than the choice to drop out of school and follow her dreams.

Luke was her person.

Fury swept through her once more. This was all so unfair. Nobody should be going through all this stupidity for a _band_. She needed to speak to Andi.

“Julie! Julie, I’m coming in whether you like it or not! This is your ten-second warning!”

Julie was already in the middle of dialling the phone when Flynn’s voice came hollering through the apartment door once more. There was an alarming clanking noise and with an exasperated sigh, she marched over and pulled it open.

“What are you– are those bolt cutters?”

“Uh… no,” Flynn said, hiding the tool behind her back with a sheepish expression.

“You’re insane.”

“Actually, I’m _concerned_ ,” she pushed past Julie with a huff and threw the bolt cutters down onto the little table by the door. “I had to promise Carlos I’d make sure you didn’t drown yourself in the shower or something. Do you even know how worried you’ve got everyone?”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Julie said, returning her gaze to the phone. “Just hold on a second–”

“I’ve been holding on for the– don’t shush me!”

“Andi! Hi!”

Flynn’s brow furrowed as Julie held a finger up to her lips, gesturing at her to be quiet. On the other end of the line, Andi’s distracted voice floated out amidst the sounds of background murmurs and rustling papers. Wherever she was, it was busy with activity. Julie didn’t question it – her mind was still busy reeling. Annoyance thrummed through her. In the future, they needed to pay more attention to detail. She had Luke could’ve just told everyone it was a joke right from the start. They didn’t have to go through all of _this._

“Hi Julie,” her tinny voice greeted. “Just hold on one second–”

Heavy footsteps were followed by the slam of a door, and the distant voices in the background went quiet. 

“Sorry, I’m back,” Andi said, breathlessly. “What did you say?”

Julie hesitated. It was rare to experience Andi sounding flustered by anything. The woman was the permanent picture of cool. 

“I was just calling you to ask about the marriage certificate… but is everything okay? You sound kinda stressed?”

Andi let out a nervous laugh, the hiccuping kind that came from a bad night of sleep and too much caffeine keeping her upright.

“Oh, yeah,” she said, but the rustling continued in the background. “Sorry, everything’s kind of hectic around here, the legal team’s freaking out about Luke dropping the suit–”

Julie’s mind screeched to a halt. The rest of Andi’s words became incomprehensible babble for a moment.

“Wait, what?” she interrupted. “What are you talking about? What suit?”

“The lawsuit against Trevor Wilson.”

“ _What?_ ”

Flynn waved an impatient hand at her.

“What’s going on?” she hissed.

Julie shushed her again, turning away. Andi continued speaking, confusion creeping into her tone. Just as Julie was concerned by her lack of calm, it seemed Andi was concerned by Julie’s lack of understanding.

“Luke’s asked them to drop it… you didn’t know?”

What? Luke was dropping the lawsuit against Bobby? But they’d been fighting that battle for _years_. It was one of the sorest topics you could bring up with him… it had been one of the reasons they’d kept pretending.

What the hell was going on?

“No, I– we’re not really… what?” she stuttered out in confusion, running a stressed hand through her own hair. Flynn continued to flap maddeningly at her. In annoyance, Julie pulled the phone away from her ear and hit speakerphone. Flynn’s arm movements ceased at once, appeased. “ _Why_ is Luke dropping the lawsuit, Andi?”

Flynn’s eyes widened in shock.

“I don’t know,” Andi replied, sounding tired. “He called a meeting yesterday.

“Do Alex and Bobby know?”

“They were there. They agreed.”

The girls stared at one another, processing this. 

“Okay,” Julie said slowly. “I just… Alright. Okay. Sorry, Andi, I need a minute, can I call you back?”

“Sure thing.”

Julie hung up. The world seemed to spin. She sat down heavily on the arm of the chair. 

“Luke dropped the Wilson lawsuit?” Flynn asked in disbelief. “There’s no way.”

Julie glanced around. Flynn was right. There was no way. It didn’t make any sense – Luke’s songs were _everything_ to him and the idea that the credit for some of his most personal pieces had been stolen actually kept him up at night. She could remember the beginning of it all when they’d first met, the way he would toss and turn in his bunk when they had a meeting with the lawyers coming up. 

The rose-gold picture frame caught her eye where it sat on the counter. When Bobby had shown up it had been such a surprise for it not to end in a fight. Could this be Luke trying to build bridges rather than burn them?

It didn’t seem like the right answer. He would have told her. He hadn’t spoken to Bobby at the party aside from asking him why he was there anyway.

But wasn’t that when it had all started? The party had been the last real time Luke had spoken to her. The last time she hadn’t felt that weird wrongfooted feeling around him. Next to the frame, a small pile of discarded notebooks had been assembled. The kind of notebook you could find in every room of the apartment, scattered with spare lyrics and half-formed melodies. Doodles of new merch ideas.

A lightbulb flicked on in her mind. She stood up.

“Flynn, I need you to help me find something.”

**Luke**

Luke’s return to the apartment was an unpleasant one. He’d come straight from a meeting with their legal team. Alex and Reggie hadn’t approved of his choice not to tell Julie about Bobby’s threats, but he’d shrugged the two of them off. She didn’t deserve to be dragged through the mud just because he’d screwed up. And that’s exactly what she’d say would need to happen – Julie would rather get torn to pieces than see him give up on this fight.

“Dude, you’ve gotta tell her,” Alex begged. “She’s part of the band. She deserves to know.”

“This has nothing to do with her,” Luke insisted.

“Bull.”

But he hadn’t been moved. Not even Reggie’s puppy eyes had done the job. They had agreed to drop the suit with him though, concluding that they would rather not have Bobby hanging around causing problems anymore, but they left the meeting in silence and Luke got in a cab back home alone. He felt adrift. He’d never been at odds with any of phantoms, let alone all three of them, and the world seemed to be closing around him. Suffocating.

All he wanted was to talk to Julie. Without her around, he couldn’t breathe right. He missed her with every fibre of his being. Every thought revolved around her. They needed to fix this. _He_ needed to fix this. To explain. To make her understand.

“Jules?” he called out, poking his head around the apartment door.

“She’s not here.”

Luke jumped and whirled around to find Flynn coming out of the bathroom. She was in her pyjamas, drying one hand of freshly painted nails, and her expression was anything but impressed. He flinched. Was this how it was going to be? They hadn’t even talked yet.

“Hey, Flynn,” he said, tiredly. “How’s it going?”

She raised an eyebrow. He looked at the ground.

“You really hurt her, you know,” she said, cutting straight to the chase.

Luke’s stomach rolled. He’d already known, but it felt worse to hear it confirmed.

“I know,” he said quietly. “That’s why I need to talk to her, where–”

“I’m not telling you,” Flynn said.

“You need to turn on the TV though. _Late Night Live with Carrie_ is on..”

“What? I don’t wanna watch TV, Flynn, I need to talk-”

She walked over and shoved the remote at him with a dramatic sigh

“Just do it.”

Sensing danger if he protested again, Luke fumbled the remote and switched on the television. The show had already started, a camera zoomed in on Carrie Wilson interviewing a couch full of smiling guests, and Luke glanced at Flynn in confusion. She was busy settling herself on their own couch. He joined her, confusion whirling inside. 

“Next up, we’ve got a surprise for all you rock fans at home,” Carrie was saying, leaning back from her sofa discussion and looking directly into the camera. “We’re being joined by Julie Molina of Julie and the Phantoms! Hi, Julie!”

Luke’s eyebrows shot towards his hairline as the screen switched to a smiling picture of Julie with a call-in soundbar jumping at the bottom. What the hell was going on?

“What–”

“Shush,” Flynn hissed, smacking him on the arm.

“Hey, Carrie,” Julie was saying. “It’s good to talk to you again!”

There was a kind of dull roaring happening in Luke’s ears. Reality seemed faded all of a sudden. For three years he and Julie had been at one another’s sides. They had shared almost every thought and feeling, every plan, and the individual interviews that they had done were rare. Not knowing what was going on felt awful. He was out of the loop, rightfully so, as she had been this past week. She felt more distant to him than a stranger at that moment and he was more than aware that it was his own fault.

“You’re here to share some news with us…” Carrie had jumped right in.

Luke was on edge. His fingers danced nervously across his knee. News? What news? Was Julie about to announce their breakup without him? They hadn’t even had a chance to talk about it. She didn’t know how he really felt. Sickness bubbled up in his gut.

It intensified when she began to explain.

“As many of you will know, a few months ago a video went viral of me and my bandmate, Luke, getting married in Vegas on my birthday. It raised a lot of questions, I know a lot of people were sceptical, but I’m here to tell you guys the truth.”

The truth. His heart thudded. 

“The truth is… we were never married. First, I should tell you that we thought we were. But it turns out that the marriage certificate was never valid. We found that out this week.”

Carrie gasped. It was obvious she already knew. “Wow. That’s crazy. So will the two of you be getting married for real, now? You had a vow ceremony planned, didn’t you?”

His eyes prickled as the shame welled up.

“We did,” Julie confirmed. “Actually, that was meant to go ahead a few days ago, but it was cancelled due to some unforeseen circumstances.”

Unforeseen circumstances. Ha. That was a nice way to put ‘Luke was a jackass who couldn’t pick good timing if his life depended on it’. 

“To answer your question about getting it certified… I don’t know, is all I can tell you, Carrie. There’s more to the story.”

Julie took a deep breath.

“First I wanna say, I’m sorry to all the people we might have hurt with this. We truly appreciate the support everybody has given us over the past few months and we never expected things to get this out of hand.”

“When Luke and I got married... or thought we did, we weren’t together. It was a decision made on too many tequila shots and too much fun. We should’ve come out and admitted that right away, but our label was concerned about how it would reflect on the band’s image, so we agreed to keep up the act of a married couple. It wasn’t real. At least… that’s what we thought at first.”

The audience was a mess of whispering and gasps.

Carrie nodded sagely. “But that’s not all, is it, Julie?”

“No,” said Julie, sighed heavily. “See the reason I’m coming out and telling you all this is because of something that happened recently. The past few years Luke and our other bandmates, Reggie and Alex, have been involved in a legal battle from their days in Sunset Curve. You guys remember Sunset Curve?”

The murmurs of the crowd intensified, several people whooping at the band’s mention. 

“They split up not long before you met the band, didn’t they?” Carrie asked.

“That’s right. The other member was your cousin, Bobby Wilson… or as everybody now knows him, Trevor.”

“Of course,” Carrie had an evil smile across her face. Concern gnawed at Luke. “It came as a surprise to everyone when he announced his solo career, but look at him now. His first album went platinum. It wasn’t long after that which the lawsuit was started, was it? Your Luke Patterson claimed that Bobby had stolen his songs. So what’s that got to do with your marriage to Luke, Julie?”

The dramatic inflexion of her voice, the purposefully wide eyes, it was a convincing act, the whole audience was drawn in. Luke felt like he was holding his breath with them.

“How about I just show you?” Julie asked. “Carrie, if you would be so kind…”

“Of course.”

Carrie’s sharklike grin returned. She made a small gesture with her hand, he presumed to whoever was in charge of the camera, and Julie’s screen flicked over. A pre-recorded video started up. Handheld, shaky, it almost made him motion sick. Bobby Wilson leaned into view. The angle was slightly off, but it was unmistakably him.

“Flynn…” Luke said slowly. “What did Julie do?”

**Julie – Earlier That Day**

Bobby Wilson’s house was less of a house and more of an ugly great mansion fashioned from concrete and glass. It sat on the edge of the beach, overlooking an obnoxious stripped of privatised sand, and from there you could see the ocean stretching out towards the horizon. Walking up the steps, Julie had been fueled by a mixture of anger and satisfaction over what she was about to do.

She rapped her knuckles against the door, bouncing on her heels with anticipation.

“Julie,” Bobby looked surprised to see her. Good. That would make this easier. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if I could have a word?” she asked sweetly. “It’s about Luke.”

His eyes narrowed, but his curiosity obviously overpowered his suspicion because he stepped aside to let her through. The inside of the mansion was just as overly modern and boring as the outside. Her footsteps echoed through the empty hall. How lonely it must’ve been to live in alone. 

“Can I get you a drink?” he asked, leading her into the kitchen.

She followed, pulling out her phone to reply to a text. With a smile, she nodded gratefully.

“That’d be great.”

He poured them both a glass of whiskey as though they were in a scene from a 1950s detective movie. Julie kept her sweet smile on as she pretended to sip, sliding her phone face down on the edge of the counter.

“So you wanna talk about Luke?” he asked. “Why, did you finally get sick of the old ball and chain.?”

Her fists clenched momentarily. She let it go.

“You told him to drop the lawsuit,” she said. “Or you’d tell everyone we aren’t really married. Why?”

Bobby sipped his drink and contemplated this, then shrugged nonchalantly.

“Eye for an eye and all that jazz, you know.”

“But they’re _his_ songs,” Julie said. “Is it really worth all this effort to hold onto something that isn’t yours?”

Bobby rolled his eyes, leaning forward on his elbows with a sigh.

“What does it matter who wrote them? They’re legally mine. God, they’re all so whiney anyway. He needs to just let it go. He can always write more. It’s not like he’s doing badly for himself.” 

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you had a shred of writing skill,” Julie sniped, taking an actual sip this time. The drink burned at her throat, solidifying her stance. “That’s the only reason you stole them in the first place.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

It was Julie’s turn to shrug.

“I know a fraud when I see one.”

Anger flared across his face.

“I took those songs because they weren’t going anywhere with him,” he huffed. “At least I wanted to do _something_ . God, he didn’t wanna sign with _anybody._ All that stupid talk about ‘integrity’ and not becoming ‘watered down versions of ourselves’. God. We could’ve been touring in actual buses, not shitty little vans. Think of the money he could’ve made if he listened to me. He might be able to write, but he’s got no idea how to sell.”

Julie smiled at the ground, shaking her head.

“Sell _out_ , you mean,” she said, turning for the door. “You know what? I changed my mind. Talking isn’t gonna get us anywhere. You’ve proved that already. I’ll see you around, Bobby.”

And she left him standing there, seething and bewildered. 

On the cab ride home, she dialled an old number.

“Hey, Carrie,” she said. “Can you do me a favour?”

**Luke – Present**

The audience sat in stunned silence. Luke was frozen in place. Had Bobby just been caught, in hard evidence, admitting that he’d stolen from Luke? After all these years?

“What a dumbass,” Flynn cackled, clapping her hands at the screen.

Well, that about summed up Luke’s feelings. Carrie was speaking on screen, the video feed having switched back to the picture of Julie, but his mind was so busy reeling he didn’t take in the words at first.

“–feel like the pressure of fame played a part in the decisions you’ve made these past few months, regarding these events?” Carrie was asking, sharklike expression serious once more. “I mean, blackmail is already a strong motivator, but was it the only influence?”

“Definitely not,” Julie replied. “If we hadn’t been so concerned with our image, we might have come out and told the truth about our relationship from the start. I want to apologise to my family, and our friends, and our fans for lying. We should never have agreed to it in the first place. Especially knowing what we know now.”

“But, you see, the thing is…” she took an audible breath. “I don’t think we were ever pretending in the first place. At least, I wasn’t. I can’t speak for Luke, but the thing I regret most about agreeing to do it was how it affected our personal relationship. We stopped communicating. We jeopardised who we are. That’s not okay.”

“Julie,” Carrie asked. “Are you saying that you really are in love with Luke Patterson after all?”

“I lied about being married to him,” she said. “But yes. I love him. And I never lied about that.”

That was all Luke could take. He was up and grabbing his keys. Flynn watched him go with an approving smile. 

“Do you even know where she is?” she asked.

“Either at her dad’s or with Victoria,” he guessed with a shrug. “I’ll find her.”

She rolled her eyes. “Hey, Luke, before you go?”

“Yeah?”

Flynn levelled him with a serious look.

“Hurt her again and I won’t be held responsible for my actions.”

He nodded. “Noted.”

And he opened the door.

**Julie**

Heart pounding, Julie hung up the phone. Carrie had thanked her for coming on the show, wishing her luck with ‘the rocky waters of Hollywood romance’ and closing out the show. The notifications were already flooding in. Bobby’s blackmail, the truth about their wedding, everything that happened over the past few months would already be on the tabloid sites. She didn’t care. There was only one thing on her mind.

The empty hallway echoed around her. She’d slipped out of the storage closet by the elevator – it had been the safest place for the interview. If she left the building she would never have gotten back in. Paparazzi were already blocking the doors downstairs. It was going to be worse than the day after Vegas this time. 

She waited. The sound of the TV shutting off inside, Flynn’s warning, and then the door was opening and she was face to face with Luke. Nausea rolled through her and she looked at him. He stopped dead in his tracks, staring.

“Carrie Wilson will go after anyone for a good story,” Julie smiled weakly. “Even her own cousin.”

There was a pause. Luke swallowed. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, deliberating over what to say, and finally let out a deep breath.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to see Bobby?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I didn’t want you to worry. Besides, you didn’t actually tell me what was going on, so I had to figure a lot of it out for myself.” 

Remorse filled the lines of his face. He took a step towards her, reaching out and then dropping his hands back to his sides again awkwardly.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“How did you figure it out?”

She shrugged. “Intuition. Guesswork. I asked Alex and Reggie too… they caved pretty quick.”

Ah. So that was why they’d been radio silent. More guilt. Luke had dragged everyone into this mess. Hurt didn’t even begin to describe it. 

“I shouldn’t have- I didn’t… I fucked up.”

“Yeah,” she almost laughed. “You did. Good thing I know you pretty well, huh?”

“There’s no one who knows me better,” he replied honestly.

Julie stepped forward, an open invitation, and Luke gravitated towards her like a planet realigned in its rightful orbit.

“You’re such an idiot,” fondness dripped from her tone.

The thing was that, once she had gotten over her deep anger and frustration, she could see it all clearly. The guilt, the shame, the worry… all of it had caught up to them over the past few weeks. It was easy to slide into a relationship when you realised you were in love, but if you didn’t talk about it then something was bound to give. Luke had held it all in, afraid to burden her, and she had held back her own worries in fear of rejection. It made them too easy to manipulate, even when there was an easy fix.

“I know.”

He took her hands and pressed his forehead to hers.

“I am so, so, sorry,” he said. “For lying, for keeping things from you… for hurting you. It was the last thing I ever wanted to do. And I’ll _never_ do it again. I need you to know that I meant it when I said I loved you. I want to be with you. Can you give me another chance? Because I really liked being your husband.”

Julie mulled this over for a second. Luke’s hands were warm in hers and he smelled like home. He was her best friend. He made mistakes sometimes, and this time she’d gotten hurt, which wasn’t okay. But when she looked into his eyes, she knew his words were sincere.

She sighed. “I don’t know, Luke… I just don’t know if I can deal with it again. I mean… you’re always leaving wet towels on the floor.”

He stared at her. Her lips twitched.

“You’re making fun of me,” he accused.

Infectious laughter bubbled up from her chest, and a moment later his own stern pose was giving way and he began giggling along with her. They collapsed against one another, breathless as they recovered, and he pulled her close into a tight embrace.

“Maybe we should just start with dating first.”

“Dates without the paps would be good.”

She smiled. The day at the beach, unfollowed by cameras, still stuck in her mind when she needed cheering up. A million more dates like that sounded like exactly what they needed. She hoped they could have it.

“You’re a really bad liar, you know? Next time just tell me what’s going on,” she mumbled into his chest. “It’ll save us both the heartbreak.”

He smiled into her hair and placed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “You got it, boss. From here on out, we’re a team.”

“And you’re not getting your ring back, by the way.”

He chuckled. “PR is gonna have a field day.”

“Fuck PR.”

He laughed, hearty and loud, and the worry in Julie’s chest eased into relief. From her shoulders, the weight was lifted. They were free.

“I love you, Julie.”

“I love you too, Luke.”

He kissed her, and she revelled in the smile against her lips. It was the first day of the rest of their lives.

**Epilogue**

_“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Julie! Happy birthday to you!”_

The band filed off stage, chattering happily after the final encore, to the sounds of the crowd’s loudest chorus yet. Julie’s twenty-second birthday was off to a roaring start and it was only going to get better from here. They were in Vegas once more, after many promises to both Andi and their families that there would be no chapels involved this time, and had plans to go bar hopping as soon as they were out of the venue. Julie had been buzzing with excitement since they’d arrived. She and Flynn, who had come with them this tour, had been planning what to wear out all day.

A year on from Vegas the first time and so much had happened. Luke, Reggie and Alex won their lawsuit against Bobby. He'd even had to share rights to the songs with them and he no longer performed them at shows. His career had taken an unpleasant turn, his latest album flopping, so much that the band had heard his label was considering dropping him. Luke had been the bigger man and pretended not to be pleased by that. The backlash from the fake marriage had been minimal. It turned out the fans thought the whole story was actually quite romantic, which was a little bit weird. Victoria had been more pleased about the future possibility of an actual wedding than disappointed, and their parents hadn't taken long to come around after the whole kerfuffle. Alex and Willie had made their relationship official – Alex had a ring of his own now, a bright gold band on his finger, and a photo album filled with pictures of the happiest wedding Luke had ever been to. Flynn, having decided that she had too much fun living with Reggie to move back into the apartment, had moved out permanently and left Luke and Julie with a spare room. They were thinking about getting a dog.

It had been Reggie's idea.

“I’m just gonna go shower quick,” Julie said, heading for the bathroom with a smile. “Don’t leave without me!”

Luke watched her go, smiling fondly, thinking about the way they’d woken up wrapped around each other and how she’d whispered good morning in his ear. The boys settled on the couch of the dressing room, relaxing back into the soft cushions with satisfied smiles. Alex waited until Julie had left, then glanced at Luke.

“Hey, you still got it with you?” he asked.

Luke patted his jeans with a reassuring nod. His great grandmother’s ring burned silver in his pocket.

“All good to go.”

His friends beamed. Tonight would be a night to remember for the rest of their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to @smol_fangirl for egging me on with this fic.


End file.
